Interaction of chronic alcohol administration and diet on pancreatic acinar cell metabolism in the rat.

The present study was done to determine the effect of the interaction of ethanol and an average or high-fat diet on pancreatic acinar cell function. Weight-matched groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were fed regular rat feed or average fat and high-fat liquid diets with or without 5% (w/v) concentration of ethanol for 3 months. Trypsinogen secretion was increased by the high-fat diet but not by ethanol; chymotrypsinogen secretion was decreased by the combination of ethanol and a high-fat diet, while lipase secretion was increased by a high-fat diet. Pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor was not significantly altered by ethanol or fat in the diet. Ethanol feeding together with a high-fat content of the diet caused complex and nonparallel changes in the secretion of the pancreatic enzymes. These data are of interest in view of the reported positive correlation between alcoholism and a high-fat content of the diet in the causation of alcoholic pancreatitis in humans.