La Droitte P, Lamboeuf Y, de Saint Blanquat G
Drug Alcohol Depend. 1982 Oct-Nov;10(2-3):111-24. doi: 10.1016/0376-8716(82)90002-3.
Alcohol intoxication by the pulmonary route was studied in the rat. This method of continuous alcoholization quickly leads to deep intoxication. After 3 weeks the animals showed metabolic alterations and a strong withdrawal syndrome. Nutritional control was obtained by adjusting the growth of a group of animals (pair-weight animals) with that of the alcoholic rats. It was shown that prolonged periods in an atmosphere rich in ethanol did not cause any alteration of the lungs: neither the constituents nor the histological structure of the lungs were modified. Measurement of the various blood parameters (pH, arterial O2 and CO2 partial pressures, level of haemoglobin, etc.) showed the absence of adverse respiratory effects. This inhalation procedure would therefore seem to be a model which is well adapted to the study of various aspects of alcoholism.
