[Lipomatous atrophy of the parotid gland in chronic alcohol consumption]

The effect of chronic ethanol consumption on the morphology of the rat parotid gland was investigated. After feeding an ethanol diet containing 36% of total calories as ethanol for 90 days light microscopic and electron microscopic investigations of the parotid gland tissue showed a striking fat accumulation compared to control rats. Besides interstitial fat tissue dispositions, fat droplets of various size occurred in most of the acinar cells. Additional morphometric investigations revealed a decrease in mean acinar cell volume (-21.9% p greater than 0.001). The latter finding reflects an atrophy of the secretory parenchyma and appears to be responsible for the impaired saliva secretion after chronic ethanol consumption which has been observed in former studies.