Normal resting and exercising muscle blood flow during acute ethanol infusion

We have examined the effect of ethanol on muscle blood flow at rest and during electrically stimulated exercise in five normal dogs using the isolated gracilis muscle preparation. Under pentobarbital anesthesia and mechanical ventilation, ethanol (15% in 0.9% NaCl) infused at 4 mL/min for 2 hr produced an arterial blood concentration of 268 +/- 10 mg/dL (X +/- SEM). Resting muscle blood flow was 6.3 +/- 0.9 mL/min/100 gm in 8 dogs infused with saline alone. During stimulated contraction using supramaximal voltage at a rate of 5 stimuli/sec, respective mean flows for ETOH and saline dogs at 1, 5, 10, and 30 min were 35.5, 19.9, 27.7, 22.2, and 22.0, 20.0, 23.6, and 19.1 mL/min/100 gm. The 1-min flow rate for ethanol infused animals was significantly greater (P < 0.05) than that observed in saline infused animals. The remainder of the values were not significantly different. Potassium release from contracting muscle was normal. These observations do not support the theory that ethanol induces vasoconstriction in the vascular bed of skeletal muscle nor do they support the postulation that muscle cell ischemia plays a role in alcoholic myopathy.