The acute metabolic and hemodynamic responses of the left ventricle to ethanol.

Although ethyl alcohol has a long medicinal his- tory (1), its precise effects on the cardiovascular system have not been defined. Acute alcohol in- gestion is known to result in triglyceride accumula- tion in the liver, which appears dependent upon an intact sympathetic nervous system (2). Evidence for stimulation of this system after ethanol ingestion has been advanced (3). Since sustained catecholamine infusion has been associated with lipid accumulation in the myocardium (4, 5), a study of the acute effects of ethanol on myocardial metabolism and function has been undertaken in animals considered nutritionally normal. The quantity given produced blood level concentrations usually associated with moderate intoxication.