Abstract

MELO-JUNIOR, Mario Ribeiro et al. Malnutrition effects and chronic exposure to ethanol on histological profile of the pancreas from offspring rats. Rev. Para. Med. [online]. 2007, vol.21, n.4, pp.23-29. ISSN 0101-5907.

OBJECTIVE: the present study evaluated, by means of histochemistry and morphometrical analysis, the histological profile of pancreas of Wistar rats born of females which underwent any of the following treatments: standard laboratory diet, low-protein diet and ethanol chronic ingestion (3g/Kg/day). METHODOLOGY: four experimental groups (Control Group - CG, Ethanol Group - EG, Undernourished Group - UG and Ethanol Undernourished Group - EUG) had their body weights evaluated at three different time : on the 3^rd (D3), 25^th (D25) and 40^th (D40) day of life. Areas of collagen deposition, number of pancreatic vessels and islets of Langerhans were evaluated in morphometric analysis. RESULTS: on D3, only the ethanol group (EG) had significantly lower weight when compared to the other groups. There was significant difference of weight between groups with same treatment but different diets (EG x EUG) on D25 and D40. EUG had the lower weight. In the morphometric study, UG and EUG showed a significant increase in the mean number of vessels when compared to other groups. However, there were no statistically significant changes neither on the number of islets of Langerhans nor on the interstitial collagen deposits among experimental groups. CONCLUSION: the experimental protocol thus showed pre and post-natal exposition to ethanol to induce minor morphological changes in pancreatic tissue of rats, while undernutrition, associated or not to ethanol, brought significant changes on pancreatic vessel number and body weights. On the other hand, islets of Langerhans and pancreatic conjunctive tissue did not present important morphological alterations.

Keywords : ethanol; undernutrition; pancreas; histological profile.

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