Chronic ingestion different alcoholic drinks indduces different levels of hepatotoxicity

CHRONIC INGESTION OF DIFFERENT ALCOHOLIC DRINKS INDUCES DIFFERENT LEVELS OF HEPATOTOXICITY.
Janjacomo G, dos Santos JM, Rosa CS, Rosa ML
Faculdade de Medicina de Catanduva-FPA

Introduction: The aim of this work was to investigate whether the liver is differently affected by chronic consumption of different types of usual alcoholic drinks. Methods: Rats were treated with ethanol (E), sugar-cane liquor (S), vodka (V) or whisky (W) 5%-20%, increasing 5% per week (habituation), and 20% maintained for 15 days (chronic ingestion). The animals, control (C) and alcoholic (E, S, V or W) were deeply anesthetized, intracardially perfused, the livers removed and sectioned. Sections were stained by hematoxilin-eosin and evaluated by scoring for the presence of hepatic steatosis: type (macro or microvesicular), intensity (absent; low, < 1/3 of the cells; moderate, 2/3 of the cells or acentuated, > 2/3 of the cells) and distribution (centrilobular, CL; mediozonal, MZ or periportal, PP). Results: Chronic ingestion of alcohol resulted in hepatic steatosis in all animals irrespective of the drinks. Macro and microvesicular steatosis were seen in E, S and W rats while only microvesicular was observed in V rats. The intensity of the steatosis was not significantly different among the alcoholic groups (p=0.063, Kruskal-Wallis followed by Fisher test). Low to accentuated steatosis were induced by E and W while V induced low steatosis and S induced moderate steatosis. Rats treated with E, S or W presented CL, MZ and PP steatosis while rats treated with V showed only CL steatosis. Discussion: These results show that chronic ingestion of different alcoholic drinks induces different levels of hepatotoxicity with ethanol inducing the grater alterations. Financial support: Fundação Padre