Hepatic and metabolic effects of ethanol on rhesus monkeys

Rhesus monkeys were tube-fed 100 calories per kg of a liquid diet based on casein in which 41% of the calories were derived from grain alcohol. The alcohol intake was 5.8 g per kg per day. Control diets contained isocaloric amounts of glucose. The protein content of the diet was 15% and fat supplied 21% of the calories. After 28 days the animals which had been fed ethanol developed hepatic fatty change and serum L.D.H. levels were elevated. The most striking electron microscopic changes in the alcohol animals were mitochondrial swelling, focal cytoplasmic degradation, and dilatation of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. In the monkeys which had received ethanol the metabolism of alcohol increased from 17.4 mg per 100 ml per hour to 26.6 mg and antipyrene half-life decreased from 61.0 minutes to 49.9 minutes. The carbohydrate animals showed no significant change in alcohol metabolism or antipyrene half life. The ethanol animals lost weight significantly while the carbohydrate animals gained significantly. The metabolic effects of alcohol thus were not reproduced by glucose. Administration of phenobarbital at 30 mg per kg for 5 days increased alcohol metabolism from 16.5 mg per hour to 22.5 mg per hour and shortened antipyrene half life from 76.5 minutes to 33.6 minutes. Alcohol and phenobarbital both induced enhanced drug metabolism but alcohol was a more powerful inducer of its own metabolism than phenobarbital. Phenobarbital on the other hand was a better inducer of antipyrene metabolism than alcohol.