Alcoholic Rhabdomyolysis: An Experimental Model in the Rat

The main features of alcoholic rhabdomyolysis-skeletal muscle necrosis, marked elevation of serum creatine phosphokinase, and myoglobinuria-were produced in rats by a combination of relatively prolonged (2 to 4 weeks) exposure to ethanol and a brief period of food deprivation. This observation suggests that fasting may similarly trigger muscle injury during binge drinking in man. The effect of fasting is in part related to an increase in blood alcohol due to reduced alcohol clearance and in part caused by a fasting-induced potentiation of the toxic effects of high concentrations of alcohol of skeletal muscle.