Effect of acute alcoholic intoxication on myocardial electrolyte and water distributions

Myocardial electrolyte distributions and sarcolemmal permeability in vivo were compared among control, acutely alcoholic, and recovery groups of rats. Rats in the alcoholic group received an intraperitoneal dose of 56 ml 12.5% ethanol per kg rat over a 5-h period. One hour after receiving the last injection of ethanol, blood was withdrawn from the right atrium and the heart excised. Rats in the recovery group had one day to recover from the alcohol treatment. Control rats were injected with n-saline instead of ethanol. Myocardial extracellular space was assessed by morphometric and tracer techniques. Results indicate that myocardial water content increases during acute alcoholic intoxication and this increase is restricted to the extracellular space. The nominal cellular concentration of potassium increased nearly 10% while that of sodium fell by nearly one-third. Plasma concentration of magnesium increased markedly (36%) and that of calcium fell slightly (5%). The results suggest that the myocardial sarcolemma is not rendered leaky by acute ethanol intoxication even several days after binge drinking, when the skeletal muscle cell sarcolemma appears to become slightly more permeable.