  AIMS. The non-conservative gravitational potential of barred galaxies, or of
any other non-axisymmetric structure, produces a loss of energy in infalling
particles of the intergalactic medium into the galaxy, which are trapped in its
potential. This dynamical friction can contribute towards increasing the total
mass of barred galaxies.
  METHODS. Analytical calculations of the energy loss are carried out using the
orbits of the particles derived numerically. Theoretical predictions are
compared with observations through the statistical analysis of the rotation
curves of barred and non-barred galaxies, either in cluster or field galaxies.
  RESULTS. There is a net effect of accretion, but it is normally very low in
relative terms. It is only significant (>10% of the total mass of the dark
matter halo in the life of the galaxy) if the density of the intergalactic
medium is higher than ~3e13 Msun/Mpc^3 (or considerably lower in cases of
motions of the galaxies close to the IGM average motion, or perpendicular to
the plane of the galaxy, or when the halo mass is low).
  Data on rotation curves do not show clear trends towards higher halo mass for
barred galaxies, only slight trends for early-type spiral galaxies. In any
case, the statistical uncertainties are limited to the detection of differences
in masses >~20%, so the effect of bar-driven injection of intergalactic matter
into galactic halos might be present with relative contributions to the average
mass of these barred galaxies lower than 20%.
