[Hepatic alterations in a model of alcoholism in the rat]

Today, there are a great number of investigations about alcoholism. The effects of alcohol had been studied in Medicine, Psychology, Biology, Biochemistry, Physiology or Pharmacology. Many investigations are carried out with humans, however, in most experiments is necessary to use animal models. Many experimental models of alcoholism in animals are usually used in the laboratories and they present several differences among them. In our investigation we have studied the hepatic alterations in an experimental model of alcoholism in the rat because the liver is a very sensitive organ which suffers the effects of alcohol and its metabolites. We try to demonstrate that there are hepatic lesions which allows the use of this experimental in the study of the behavioral and neural parameters in the rat. The experimental model of alcoholism that we propose has been considered appropriate to study the behavioral effects of alcohol, not only because the animals show the characteristic hepatic lesions, but also because they do not suffer manipulations that could alter them and as a consequence bias the behavioral data.