[Correlation between acinar cell fat accumulation and secretory capacity of the rat pancreas in the early stage of alcohol-induced pancreatopathy].

In patients exhibiting chronic alcohol abuse, the accumulation of fat droplets in pancreatic acinar cells, as well as changes in pancreatic secretion, can be interpreted as early signs of pancreatic damage. Using rats, (the animals were fed for 9 +/- 1 months with a solution of 20% v/v ethanol, combined with either a normal or a fat enhanced diet) we tested whether or not these symptoms are related both to each other and to morphological lesions of the tissue. Based on six separate histological criteria, the lesions were classified into five stages of severity. In order to characterize the secretory capacity of the pancreas, we measured the outputs of lipase, alpha-amylase, trypsin, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase A, elastase, and phospholipase A. Compared with the control group, we found that the alcohol-fed animals exhibited a significantly higher degree of morphological damage to the pancreas, as well as an increased frequency of fat accumulation in the acinar cells, and, with the exception of alpha-amylase, a rise in the level of enzyme secretion. In the animals exhibiting the highest degree of tissue damage, however, both fat accumulation and hypersecretion appeared to be diminished. This diminution could possibly be interpreted as the first sign of chronic pancreatitis. Increased consumption of fat did not change either the level of fat accumulation in the acinar cells, or the level of pancreatic secretion. Within the group of alcohol-fed rats, the most pronounced levels of hypersection were found in animals exhibiting cellular fat accumulation. However, the secretion levels of the alcohol-fed animals exhibiting no such fat accumulation did not differ significantly from that of the control group. Therefore, a relationship appears to exist in rats between fat accumulation in acinar cells and the level of pancreatic secretion.