Host response to mycobacterial infection in the alcoholic rat.
Animals, chronically treated with alcohol, were inoculated with mycobacteria (bacillus Calmette-Guérin, 10.2 x 10(6) organisms) into the spleen to produce a granulomatous hepatitis. Before infection, chronic alcohol ingestion was associated with a depressed skin test response to phytohemagglutinin, 71.7% of baseline (P = 0.009). Mycobacterial (bacillus Calmette-Guérin) infection stimulated phytohemagglutinin skin test response to 417% of baseline in controls and 299% in alcoholics (P less than 0.001). The hepatic granuloma response was altered with smaller but more numerous granulomas (mean +/- SEM, 81.2 +/- 1.5 microns2 of area with a frequency of 1.8 granulomas per field in alcoholics vs. 129.8 +/- 5.71 microns2 and 1.2 granulomas per field in controls; P less than 0.001). These changes were associated with a 10-fold increase in colony-forming units per gram of liver (54.5 +/- 18.2 in alcoholics vs. 5.6 +/- 1.83 in controls; P = 0.0006). This model offers precise parameters for host response to infection and indicates that alcohol significantly impairs the clearing capacity for mycobacteria from the liver.
Mendenhall
C L
CL
Research Service, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Grossman
C J
CJ
Roselle
G A
GA
Ghosn
S
S
Gartside
P S
PS
Rouster
S D
SD
Chalasani
P V
PV
Schmitt
G
G
Martin
K
K
Lamping
K
K
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D000818:Animals; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D006099:Granuloma / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology; D012882:Skin Tests
D010835:Phytohemagglutinins