Effect of long-term ethanol consumption on the rat ventricle.

The chronic ingestion of alcohol has been correlated with cardiac dysfunction. This study looked at the effect of chronic ethanol ingestion on the rat ventricle. The studies were carried out on hearts from male Long-Evans hooded rats, pair-fed on ethanol (E) or normal (N) liquid diet. The E rats received 35-39% of calories as ethanol. The studies were carried out after 40 weeks on the diet. The data show the E rats had reduced papillary muscle function, and increased incidence of isoproterenol induced extra beats and failure. There was no difference in responsiveness to isoproterenol, alpha, beta, or muscarinic receptor number or agonist binding characteristics between hearts from E and N rats. The cardiac dysfunction in the E group is thought to be due to possible membrane structural changes, or to changes in the characteristics of the autonomic receptor system beyond the receptor level.