Alcoholic neuropathy and hepatopathy in mice. An experimental study

Seventeen young adult C57BL male mice were given 15% (w/v) solution of ethanol as their sole drinking fluid for seven to nine months. C57BL male mice given regular drinking water were used as controls. After decapitation samples from the livers and the sciatic nerves of the mice were processed for electron microscopy and morphometry. The ultrastructural analysis revealed slight alterations in the nerves of the ethanol-exposed mice. The changes were mostly in the Schwann cells. Pathological Schwann cell-axon relationships were also more abundant in the ethanol-exposed mice. The thickness distribution of the myelinated nerve fibers was similar in the exposed and the control mice. The transverse-sectional area of hepatocytes was greater in the mice on ethanol than in the controls. The volume density of lipid vacuoles of the liver cells was significantly increased in the mice treated with ethanol (p less than 0.001). The hepatic changes indicate a significant effect of ethanol on the liver. The findings suggest that, in mice, chronic peroral treatment with ethanol can produce slight changes suggesting peripheral neuropathy together with fatty metamorphosis of the liver.