[Alcohol intoxication via the lung in rats]

Abstract

1. The technique of chronic alcohol intoxication by inhalation of alcohol vapor was developed in rats. 2. The blood alcohol level value of rats staying in an alcohol-containing atmosphere increases (from 0 to 4 mg/l) in terms of the atmospheric alcohol level (from 0 to 20 mg/l). 3. The mean blood alcohol level of a group of animals maintained during 20 days in an atmosphere containing 15 mg/l of air, increases regularly during 7 days, and then decreases slowly. 4. Animals that are staying in an atmosphere with a regularly increasing alcohol level can breathe an air containing 20 mg/l of alcohol. This dose is early lethal when used in other animals from the beginning of treatment, what confirms the metabolic tolerance. 5. Withdrawal signs characterized by a central nervous system hyperexcitability are shown by animals which had a high blood alcohol level during 4 or 5 days, when they are back into the ambient atmosphere.