MORPHOLOGIC PATTERNS OF RAT THYMUS REARRANGEMENT INDUCED BY THREEMONTH PREPARTUM AND INTRAPARTUM ETHANOL INTOXICATION

Abstract

The habits and health of parents are considered to be well-known determinants of offspring health. Alcohol addiction, however, is of special importance. Interest in the mentioned phenomenon is caused by its prevalence. So, according to statistics for 2018, Russia ranks sixth in alcohol consumption (16.2 liters) per capita. The easy availability of ethyl-containing drinks has catastrophic consequences: 25% of children born to drunks have fetal alcohol syndrome. Information about morphological patterns of thymus reorganization as a central organ of immunogenesis, however, remains contradictory. This fact served as the starting point of the study, the object of which were 55 newborn female individuals, the offspring of eight-month-old mongrel white rats. The conditions of their keeping corresponded to GOST 33216-2014. During the 90 days before and during pregnancy, the mothers of future rodents were fed with a 15% ethyl alcohol solution, which was the only source of liquid. The offspring were then killed by decapitation under chloroform anesthesia. The dissected thymuses were fixed for histosections stained with hematoxylin-eosin (determination of morphometry), azure-II (counting of cellular elements), Gordon-Smith silver (identification of argyrophilic components), and monoclonal antibodies to the marker of CD3+ mature thymocytes. It was found that pregravidar exposure of females to ethanol causes the appearance of an atypical morphologic pattern of the organ in their offspring. The observed changes in the structure of the subject may, in particular, lead to the development of  primary immunodeficiency. Such a conclusion is prompted by the absence or sharp decrease in the number of CD3+ cells, which largely predetermines the viability of the organism. On this basis, it becomes obvious: the published results have not only academic but also applied significance.