Hepatitis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Hepatitis, including details on hepatitis a, b, c, causes, symptoms.

The effects of light and moderate-heavy ethanol exposure on the development of cirrhosis in rats.

Zhang M, Gong Y, Corbin I, Minuk GY

Section of Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Daily, light ethanol consumption has beneficial effects on liver recovery following partial hepatectomy and acute liver failure in rats. The aim of the present study was to determine whether such consumption has a beneficial, deleterious, or no effect on the progression of chronic hepatitis to cirrhosis in rats. Adult, male, Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 66) were gavaged with light (1.0 g/kg/day) or moderate-heavy (3.0 g/kg) ethanol in water daily for the final 8 weeks of a 10-week period of thioacetamide-induced cirrhosis. Control rats were gavaged with water alone. Compared to results in water-fed controls, light-ethanol exposure had beneficial or no effects, while moderate-heavy ethanol exposure had deleterious effects on hepatic inflammation, function, regenerative activity, and fibrosis. The results of this study indicate that daily, light ethanol exposure does not have a deleterious effect on the progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis in this animal model.

Published 4 January 2007 in Dig Dis Sci, 51(10): 1732-7.
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