Effects of Alcohol Consumption on Humoral Immunity in Mice

To study the effect of alcohol consumption on spleen and antibody production to Peste des Petit Ruminantes (PPR) vaccine, 28 – 3 week old inbred albino mice were divided into 2 equal groups. The first group was given 10% ethanol (v/v) in water for 1 week, 20% (v/v) for another 2 weeks and 30% for the remaining period of the experiment. The second group served as control. At the 6^th week the mice were given 0.1 ml of reconstituted PPR vaccine orally. At d 14 post vaccination, the animals were sacrificed and sera samples collected. The mean body weights, spleen weights, spleen body mass indices and antibody titre of the alcohol exposed mice were (p<0.01) lower than those of the control mice. These results suggest that alcohol consumption adversely affects spleen and reduces the production of antibodies in mice.