The effect of acute and chronic ethanol administration on gastric emptying in cats

There continues to be disagreement regarding the effects of ethanol on gastric emptying. This study was designed to assess different degrees of ethanol exposure on gastric emptying. Scintigraphic gastric emptying studies were performed in healthy adult cats and the half time (t1/2) of gastric emptying was obtained from each study. Repeat measures of gastric emptying were again obtained in these cats under the conditions of both acute and chronic ethanol exposure and 24 hr following ethanol withdrawal. Gastric emptying half times were prolonged significantly during acute and chronic exposure to ethanol. The mean value for t1/2 under control conditions was 46.46 min, while for acute and chronic exposure to ethanol the mean t1/2 values were 69.34 and 91.33 min, respectively. In addition, we demonstrated a similar delay in gastric emptying during active withdrawal from alcohol (t1/2 = 70). We conclude that both acute and chronic alcohol exposure significantly delay gastric emptying.