Ethanol-induced gastric mucosal blood flow and vascular permeability changes in the rat.

Ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury is accompanied by complete cessation of blood flow in the lesion area. An in vivo microscopy technique was used in the rat to determine whether this cessation of blood flow could be due to increased microvascular permeability with marked plasma exudation and a resultant increase in blood viscosity. The topical application of 100% ethanol to the mucosa caused complete stasis of mucosal blood flow within 1 min. Fluorescent in vivo microscopy revealed that topical ethanol also caused a prompt increase in mucosal microvascular permeability to albumin. This, however, did not explain the slowing and cessation of mucosal microvascular blood flow as these preceded the permeability change.