Alcohol Hurts Recovery From Inflammation

A U.S. study suggested that alcohol makes rats vulnerable to, but doesn’t directly cause, a chronic inflammation of the pancreas known as pancreatitis.

However, the team of Californian scientists found alcohol impairs recovery from acute pancreatitis and sensitizes the pancreas to chronic injury. They said their findings help explain why only a small percentage of heavy drinkers develop chronic pancreatitis.

The researchers from UCLA, the University of Southern California, and the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System found alcohol greatly sensitizes the pancreas to pathologic responses of chronic pancreatitis.

Some rats in the study were given alcohol, plus high doses of a drug that induces inflammation of the pancreas through excessive stimulation of digestive secretions. Other rats were given the inflammation-inducing drug, but no alcohol.

Rats given both alcohol and the inflammation-inducing drug lost 86 percent of an important type of cells in their pancreas, while rats receiving only the inflammation-inducing drug showed no cell loss.

The researchers concluded alcohol harmed the capacity of the rats to recover from the drug-induced inflammation.

The study appears in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology — Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.