Early increased pancreatic secretory capacity during alcohol adaptation in the dog

Pancreatic secretion of bicarbonate and protein in response to graded secretin administration with and without concomitant 5 micrograms . kg-1 . h-1 atropine was examined in gastric and duodenal fistula dogs after 6 and 12 months of 2 g.kg-1.day-1 ethanol intake. Maximal responses of water and bicarbonate were significantly increased after 6 months of alcohol treatment compared with untreated animals, from 12.3 to 18.1 ml/10 min for volumes and from 1.76 to 2.63 meq/10 min for bicarbonate outputs. No further increase occurred during the following 6 months. The sensitivity to secretin was not changed, and the atropine dose did not affect the responses. The protein output in the untreated dogs was constant at 12.8 mg/10 min at all secretin doses and was reduced by 50% by concomitant atropine. Long-term administration of ethanol seemed to induce a dose-related increase of the protein response to secretin, the maximal output being 30.9 mg/10 min. The infused dose of atropine shifted the dose-response relationship to the right, thus making it more evident. Six months' alcohol treatment thus increased the secretory capacity of the pancreas in response to secretin. The increased volume and bicarbonate responses are best explained by the previously described neogenesis of ducts in alcohol-fed dogs. The increased protein response is assumedly due to the here-described appearance of acinar cell responsiveness to secretin.