Morphometric changes in alcoholic mice of neurons of areas 6 and 17 and ependyma of the subcommissural organ

Alcohol effects on the morphometric development of the subfornical organ and area postrema of the albino mouse

We have studied the development of the nuclear sizes of ependymocytes and neurons of two circumventricular organs of the male alcoholic mouse: the Subfornical Organ (SFO) and the Area Postrema (AP), comparing the results with a control group. The global volume of both centers was also studied. The results show that the SFO, a structure related to the control of fluid balance, responds to alcoholism with an increase of the global volume. This increase could be related to the variations of salt-water balance and/or blood pressure in chronic alcoholism. However, the size of cell nuclei in the SFO is not affected. In contrast, the AP responds to chronic alcoholism like other nervous centres, with a decrease of the nuclear size of its cells. The global volume of AP does not change.

Effect of ethanol on liver cell-development in the male albino mouse

The aim of this study is to determine the influence of ethanol on the development of periportal and pericentral hepatocytes and their nuclei, comparing it with the development of these cells and nuclei in a control, age-matched population. In male albino mice fed with 20% ethanol added to drinking water and sacrificed at day 25, 35, 85 and 180 of life haematoxylin-eosin stained liver specimens were studied with the aid of a LEITZ ASM semiautomatic autoanalyzer. The nuclear area of at least 25 hepatocytes with evident nucleoli was measured at each of 3 periportal and 3 pericentral fields. The area of the cells of the same fields was estimated by dividing the area of the fields by the number of hepatocyte nuclei present in them. Both cellular and nuclear areas of periportal and pericentral hepatocytes of the 25-day-old animals were smaller than those of age-matched controls. By contrast, the experimental group showed a striking increase both in cellular and nuclear size in the pericentral hepatocytes, but not in the periportal ones. Thus, ethanol seems to inhibit the initial growth of cells and nuclei; but, after maturation, it causes a marked increase not only in cellular size of pericentral hepatocytes, especially in 180-day-old animals, but also in nuclear size, already evident in the 35-day-old mice.