Adult male rats (lineage Wistar) were alcoholized with ethanol diluted to 6%, after a brief adaptation period with weekly growing doses of ethanol to 2%, 4% and 6%. After a 10 and 15-month period of experiment, 4 animals of each group _ control (C) and alcoholized (A) _ were intraperitoneally anesthetized with 3% Hypnol and fixed by perfusion with 2,5% glutaraldehyde. Samples of parotid glands were collected and examined in an Transmission Electron Microscope. Gradual ultrastructural alterations were observed in those animals during the whole experiment: dilation of the cisterns of the Golgi complex, presence of digestive vacuoles and a great amount of empty vesicles in the entire cytoplasm, an increase and accumulation of secondary lysosomes, besides an enlargement of the intercellular space, between basolateral interdigitations of the cells, as well as in the conjunctive tissue. The described morphologic alterations are due, probably, to disturbances in the hydroelectrolitic homeostasis in the saliva production, therefore contributing to serious morpho-functional disturbances of those glands in alcoholic individuals. No alteration could be observed in the animals of the control group