Chronic-Binge Ethanol Model in Mice

C57BL/6 female mice (10–11 weeks) were purchased from Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME, USA). Mice were randomized to receive a chronic–binge ethanol Lieber DeCarli feeding model consisting of 10 days chronic ethanol (5% v/v) exposure and ±daily supplementation with saline or 5 mM tributyrin by oral gavage. Control animals were pair-fed an isocaloric diet with maltose dextrin substituted for ethanol ± 5 mM tributyrin or saline supplementation by oral gavage daily. On the 11th day, mice were administered an oral binge gavage of either 5 g/kg ethanol or maltose with either 2.5 mM tributyrin or saline as previously randomized. There were four groups in total: pair-fed saline (PF-S), pair-fed tributyrin (PF-TB), ethanol-fed saline (EF-S), and ethanol-fed tributyrin (EF-TB). Mice were anesthetized 6 h post-gavage, blood was collected from the inferior vena cava, and tissue (small intestine, cecum, lung) was dissected and stored for future analyses.