Myopathy associated with chronic alcohol drinking. Histological and electrophysiological study.

Muscles of the lower legs of rats given 25% ethanol in water ad libitum for up to 9.5 months were studied using histological, histochemical and electrophysiological techniques. Ethyl alcohol was substituted for about 20% of the total calorific input of the animals. The observations were compared with the structure of the gastrocnemius muscle of five alcoholics with clinical neuropathy. Fibrillation potentials and angulated atrophic fibers were observed in the muscles of animals on alcohol for 9.5 months. No fiber type grouping was present. There was also phagocytosis of the muscle fibers and changes in their internal structure, as reflected by the distribution of NADH-diaphorase. The observed muscle changes in the alcoholics and those in the experimental animals on alcohol differed mainly quantitatively, the only exception being the presence of fiber type grouping in the biopsies from the alcoholics.