Biological effects of chronic ethanol consumption: a reappraisal of the Lieber-De Carli liquid-diet model with reference to skeletal muscle.

This paper responds to the recent article by Rao et al. (Alcohol and Alcoholism 21, 369-373, 1986) which suggested that the Lieber-De Carli liquid diet for chronic ethanol-feeding studies may not be suitable for the rat because of the changes in carbohydrate content. The viability of the Lieber-De Carli model was, therefore, re-examined. The content of the liquid diet was shown to be nutritionally adequate, when compared to a solid laboratory chow. However, rats on an alcohol feeding regime had sub-optimal growth rates, because of a reduction in the amount of liquid diet consumed. When compared to pair fed controls, rats fed the ethanol-containing diet showed marked changes in skeletal muscle. These observations are similar to those in man and we conclude that the use of the Lieber-De Carli feeding regime in experimental animals is a suitable means of investigating the mechanism of skeletal myopathy.