Observations on the cellular effects of ethanol and hyperthermia in vivo.

The presence of ethanol in mice not previously exposed to the drug potentiates the damage caused by hyperthermia to the skin of the ear. Similarly, when thermotolerance is induced in the ear by a prior heat treatment, ethanol given before the second heat treatment reduces the amount of thermotolerance that is expressed. Conversely, mice that have developed ethanol tolerance after exposure to ethanol vapor for 7 days display resistance to hyperthermia-induced necrosis. It is possible that there may be similarities in the direct cellular effects of heat and ethanol, and that the development of tolerance to ethanol and hyperthermia may be by a similar mechanism.