Experimental Liver Injury in the Rhesus Monkey

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Abstract
The effects of chronic ethanol administration in the Macaca mulatta monkey were studied, both in association with a low-choline, high-fat diet and with a normal diet. At the end of an 8-month period, significant liver damage and elevation of portal venous pressure were produced by a low-choline, high-fat diet. Oral ingestion of alcohol did not aggravate the injury produced by this diet nor did it significantly alter hepatic function or structure in animals fed a normal diet with protein and choline supplements. Hepatic cirrhosis and portal hypertension and abnormal portosystemic communications similar to those seen in human cirrhosis can be produced by the cirrhogenic diet in the Rhesus monkey. Chronic liver disease and portal hypertension produced in this fashion may furnish a good experimental model to investigate the causes and treatment of portal cirrhosis and its complications.

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