Effect of chronic alcohol administration on the exocrine pancreas after jejunoileal bypass in the rat.

To determine whether intestinal bypass operation and alcohol administration exerted a synergistic effect on pancreatic enzyme composition and morphology, adult rats were submitted either to a sham-operation or to a 90 per cent jejunoileal bypass. Two weeks after the operation, the rats received a 15 per cent solution of ethanol in drinking fluid during a period of four weeks while controls received water. In sham-operated animals, alcohol had no effect on pancreatic weight or its total content in protein and amylase. The general structural and ultrastructural aspect remained unchanged except for the presence of a few mixed acinar-islet cells. Bypass operation alone induced a significant decrease in amylase content while the population of zymogen granules was reduced. Parallely, lipid droplets deposited within acinar cells. Alcohol administered in bypassed animals exerted a synergistic effect on fat accumulation in pancreatic acinar cells but had no effect on other biochemical and morphological parameters.