Effects of ethanol administration on parameters of immunocompetency in rats.

Ethanol administered to rats intragastrically in doses sufficient to cause dependency resulted in a rapid cell loss from the thymus and spleen. Cell loss from the peripheral blood was due primarily to a loss of lymphocytes, but a concomitant granulocytosis resulted in only small changes in the total leukocyte count. Lymphocyte proliferation to both T- and B-cell mitogens was severely compromised by ethanol treatment. The cell loss and functional lymphocyte impairment also occurred at half the ethanol dose required to induce dependency. Although cell numbers recovered relatively quickly after ethanol withdrawal, lymphocyte function, as measured by proliferation, recovered more slowly. Ethanol administration before or during immunization with sheep erythrocytes resulted in an impairment in the ability of animals to respond with a primary immune response to this antigen. These data suggest that ethanol given in quantities sufficient to produce dependence impairs in vitro and in vivo parameters of immunocompetency.