[Characteristics of glucose metabolism in rats with different preferences for alcohol]

Rats preferring ethanol were distinct from water-consuming animals in a decreased level of immunoreactive insulin im blood serum as well as in glucokinase activity of liver tissue. Per oral loading with glucose, 4 g/kg of body mass, enabled to detect a difference in the sugar phosphorylation via hexokinase and glucokinase reactions as well as the dissimilar sensitivity of the insulin system to glucose in the ethanol-, water-consuming and intermediate animals. Ethanol-consuming rats were more resistant to the effect of starvation during 48 hrs. The data obtained suggest that the characteristic properties of glucose metabolism in ethanol-consuming rats appear to be responsible for increased consumption of ethanol, which is used as optimal energy source, metabolized via pathways which did not involve the glycolytic pathway.