Alcoholic pancreatic injury: alterations of pancreatic autonomic nerves and microcirculation

Alteration of microcirculatory status and aberration of the autonomic nervous activity are thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of ethanol-induced organ damages. Recently, the significant roles of nitric oxide and endothelin in the regulation of the pancreatic microcirculatory system and its disturbances have also been discovered. The present study was undertaken to clarify the histochemical and biochemical alteration of the cholinergic and adrenergic nerves. NADPH diaphorase and nitric oxide synthase activities, markers of nitroxergic nerves, and endothelin immunoreactivity as well as binding sites of 125 I-endothelin, were also studied in the pancreas of rats fed for three months with the Lieber-DeCarli's ethanol-containing liquid diet. In the rats fed ethanol, the histochemical and biochemical activities of the cholinergic nerves gradually increased, compared with the control rats. Monoamine fluorescence and NADPH diaphorase histochemical activity were also markedly enhanced in the ethanol-treated group. The results suggest that the activation of cholinergic and adrenergic nerves and increased NO synthesis are involved in the pathogenesis of ethanol-induced pancreatic injury.