An evaluation of the respective roles of liver disease and malnutrition in the pathogenesis of the hypogonadism seen in alcoholic rats

Abstract Considerable evidence has accumulated to suggest that ethanol is a gonadal toxin. With this emphasis the role(s) that liver disease and malnutrition might play have been neglected. The following studies were performed to either confirm the primacy of alcohol as a gonadal toxin or to point out the respective roles of these latter two conditions. Five groups of animals were studied: an ad libitum-fed control, carbon tetrachloride-treated (cirrhosis control), weight-restricted (malnutrition control), a pair-fed control, and an ethanol-fed group. The liver function and histology of all but the ethanol-fed and carbon tetrachloride cirrhosis controls were normal. In contrast, only the testicular weight and histology of the alcohol-fed animals were abnormal. Testosterone levels were reduced only in the ethanol-fed group ( P P P P