Alcohol injury to the normal human gastric mucosa: endoscopic, histologic and functional assessment

In 15 healthy volunteers, we studied the effect of intragastric administration of 100 ml 40% alcohol (in 10 experimental subjects) or isotonic saline (in 5 control subjects) on endoscopic appearance of the gastric mucosa, mucosal histology, luminal pH, and gastric mucosal potential difference. We found that a single dose of 40% alcohol produces rapid endoscopic changes (congestion and focal hemorrhagic lesions) and prominent histologic changes (exfoliation of the surface epithelium, edema of the lamina propria and hemorrhagic lesions associated with mucosal microvascular damage). The histologic changes were seen as early as 5 minutes after alcohol administration and occurred coincidentally with functional changes, which consisted of a sudden increase in luminal pH and a drop in the mucosal potential difference. The present study correlates the time sequence of the endoscopic, histological, and functional changes of the gastric mucosa following acute alcohol injury in normal human volunteers. This study confirms that many of the previous observations in animal models are also seen in normal human volunteers.