MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF HEPATIC CHANGES IN EXPERIMENTAL DRUG-INDUCED CHOLESTASIS

An experimental cholestasis was induced by Ethinylestradiol (EE) in a dosis of 1 mg/kg daily for 5 and 7 days in rats. By using a systemic network, a morphometric analysis of the liver of 18 animals was carried out. Rats were divided into three groups of 6 animals each as followed: 1st - controls; 2nd - EE-treated for 5 days, and 3rd - Eetreated for 7 days. With the treated animals, there was a changed ratio between hepatocytes and sinusoidal and perisinusoidal cells, respectively, from 10,36 : 1 for the controls down to 8,8 : 1 for the second group and 8,3 : 1 for the third one. There were also changes in the nuclear-cytoplasmic ratios in the hepatocytes themselves from 1 : 3,91 for the control group to 1,58 : 1 for the second and 1 : 5,29 for the third one. The changed nuclear-cytoplasmic ratios in the hepatocytes in the animals from the second and third group were due to the sharp increase of the count of hepatocytes with vacuolar degeneration from 0,667 ± 0,42 %for the first group up to 35 ± 11,25 %for the second and 29,65 ± 9,08 %for the third one. The vacuolar degeneration of hepatocytes and the proliferation of sinusoidal cells presented the most common processes established in the liver with the histological and morphometric assessment of this kind of cholestasis