Normal Resting and Exercising Muscle Blood Flow during Acute Ethanol Infusion

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Abstract
The effect of ethanol [EtOH] on muscle blood flow at rest and during electrically stimulated exercise in 5 normal dogs using isolated gracilis muscle preparation was studied. Under pentobarbital anesthesia and mechanical ventilation, ethanol (15% in 0.9% NaCl) infused at 4 ml/min for 2 h produced an aretrial blood concentration of 268 .+-. 10 mg/dl (.+-. SEM [mean standard error]). Resting muscle blood flow was 6.3 .+-. 0.3 ml/min per 100 g in EtOH dogs and 6.7 .+-. 0.9 ml/min per 100 g in 8 dogs infused with saline alone. During stimulated contraction using supramaximal voltage at a rate of 5 stimuli/s, respective mean flows for EtOH and saline dogs at 1, 5, 10 and 30 min were 35.5, 19.9, 27.7, 22.2 and 22.0, 20.0, 23.6 and 19.1 ml/min per 100 g. The 1-min flow rate for EtOH infused animals was significantly greater (P < 0.05) than that observed in saline infused animals. The remainder of the values were not significantly different. K released from contracting muscle was normal. Observations did not support the theory that EtOH induced vasoconstriction in the vascular bed of skeletal muscle or the postulation that muscle cell ischemia played a role in alcoholic myopathy.