Effect of long-term ethanol feeding on the restoration process of acute necrotizing pancreatitis induced in rats.

This study was conducted to elucidate the possible influence of long-term peroral administration of alcohol on the repair process of acute necrotizing pancreatitis. Male Wistar rats fed with balanced diet were divided into two groups. The first group had free access to 15% ethanol, and the second group, the control group, has access to water instead. After fifty weeks, acute necrotizing pancreatitis was induced in rats by infusing 0.4% lysolecithin into their pancreatic duct. In the course of pancreatitis, pancreatic enzymes in serum, enzymes and protein in pancreas, and DNA synthesis in pancreas in both groups, changed in the same way. Histologically, interstitial edema, necrosis of parenchyma, infiltration of inflammatory cells, and formation of tubular complex were observed. Most of these histological changes of pancreas in both groups disappeared in twenty days and pancreas was repaired almost completely. These findings suggest that the repair process of acute necrotizing pancreatitis is not affected by preceding long-term intake of alcohol.