Is ethanol-induced damage of the gastric mucosa a hyperosmotic effect?
The involvement of hyperosmolarity in ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage was studied by comparing the effects of ethanol on the rat gastric mucosa and those caused by hyperosmotic glucose and choline chloride solutions, and by an almost isosmotic solution of acetylsalicylic acid. Upon intragastric instillation, all test solutions, namely 3M and 5M ethanol (3330 and 5590 mosmol/kg resp.), 3M glucose (3890 mosmol/kg), 1.5 M choline chloride (2840 mosmol/kg) and 20 mM acetylsalicylic acid, also containing 100 mM HCl and 50 mM NaCl, produced macroscopic and microscopic lesions of the gastric mucosa. The haemorrhages induced by ethanol and acetylsalicylic acid solutions were more evenly distributed, whereas most lesions produced by the glucose and choline chloride solutions were located at the rumeno-fundic junction. There were no qualitative differences between the microscopic lesions caused by the various instillates, however. All the test solutions broke the gastric mucosal barrier a
