Production of Cirrhosis in Fatty Livers with Alcohol. ∗

Abstract

It was previously shown that depancreatized dogs develop cirrhosis of the liver when maintained with insulin and a diet containing meat, sucrose, bone ash and vitamins. The cirrhosis was observed as early as 2.6 years after pancreatectomy and was preceded by the infiltration of massive amounts of fat, the latter appearing as a rule within 20 weeks after excision of the gland. It was concluded that the scar tissue developed in response to the presence of the large amounts of fat in the liver. In the present study cirrhosis in normal dogs is shown to occur when the feeding of large amounts of alcohol is superimposed upon a previously established fatty liver.

For 30-35 days each dog received daily 10 g lard and 7 g lean meat per kilo. Vitamin sources and Cowgill's salt mixture were fed throughout the experiment. At the end of this period, the administration of alcohol was begun and the diet changed to approximately 30 g of lean meat. Ten cc of 22.5% alcohol per kilo were administered twice daily but the amount was varied somewhat with the response of the dog. The animals became comatose as a rule within an hour after the alcohol administration. The period of alcohol feeding was not unduly prolonged, 4-7 days of alcohol feeding being alternated with a similar period of fat feeding.

At various intervals after the alcohol treatments were begun, the animals died or were sacrificed and the tissues subjected to histological examination. Sixteen alcohol-treated dogs have so far been studied and the liver findings on these may be summarized as follows: 1. Excessively fatty livers were present in all animals, which resembled those found in chronic severe alcoholism in man. 2. A number of these fatty livers were greenish in color and had intra-hepatic obstruction.