Alcohol/"low-dose" carbon tetrachloride-induced cirrhosis in rats using different methods of alcohol feeding

Cirrhosis may be reliably produced in rats by exposing them to low levels of carbon tetrachloride vapor while feeding alcohol in the Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet. This study aimed to determine whether alternative cheaper and more convenient ways of feeding alcohol would also allow the production of cirrhosis. Animals were fed alcohol in the Lieber-DeCarli diet, in a gel diet, or by addition of alcohol + sucrose to their drinking water, and were exposed to carbon tetrachloride vapor 6 hr/night, 5 nights/week. After 12 weeks of treatment, all animals (4 of 4) receiving alcohol in the Lieber-DeCarli diet, but only two in each of the gel and drinking water groups, were cirrhotic. The variable results with the gel diet may be due to loss of alcohol by evaporation from the gel. Alcohol intake in the group receiving alcohol in drinking water was greater than in those receiving Lieber-DeCarli diet. We suggest that the increased carbohydrate intake due to addition to sucrose to the water exerted a protective effect on the liver.