The research, presented today at the annual meeting of the
Research Society on Alcoholism in San Francisco, describes a
chemical found in the urine of monkeys also found in human
alcoholics, and liver biopsies that show development of "fatty
liver" -- another common finding in heavily drinking people.
Carol C. Cunningham, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry said, "One
of the unique features of using these monkeys as a model for
alcoholic liver disease is that these monkeys self-administer
alcohol." Some of the monkeys choose to only take a small amount
of alcohol -- paralleling the social drinkers; some consume a
moderate amount -- "like regular drinkers who are not in
jeopardy of developing alcoholic liver disease," and some are
heavy drinkers, who become intoxicated, most prone to changes in
the liver. "In some respects, this group of monkeys mimic the
human situation," he said, except "we don't have any monkeys
that don't drink any (alcohol) -- they all drink something."
First, Cunningham and his colleagues i