Mouse model of chronic and binge ethanol feeding (the NIAAA model)

Nat Protoc. 2013 Mar;8(3):627-37. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2013.032. Epub 2013 Feb 28.

Abstract

Chronic alcohol consumption is a leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide, leading to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, the most widely used model for alcoholic liver injury is ad libitum feeding with the Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet containing ethanol for 4-6 weeks; however, this model, without the addition of a secondary insult, only induces mild steatosis, slight elevation of serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and little or no inflammation. Here we describe a simple mouse model of alcoholic liver injury by chronic ethanol feeding (10-d ad libitum oral feeding with the Lieber-DeCarli ethanol liquid diet) plus a single binge ethanol feeding. This protocol for chronic-plus-single-binge ethanol feeding synergistically induces liver injury, inflammation and fatty liver, which mimics acute-on-chronic alcoholic liver injury in patients. This feeding protocol can also be extended to chronic feeding for longer periods of time up to 8 weeks plus single or multiple binges. Chronic-binge ethanol feeding leads to high blood alcohol levels; thus, this simple model will be very useful for the study of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and of other organs damaged by alcohol consumption.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

  • Alcoholism / pathology*
  • Animals
  • Binge Drinking / pathology*
  • Disease Models, Animal*
  • Ethanol / pharmacology
  • Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / pathology
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (U.S.)
  • United States

Substances

  • Ethanol