MORPHOFUNCTIONAL FEATURES OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE THYMUS AND CRANIAL MESENTERIC LYMPH NODES CAUSED BY PRENATAL ALCOHOL INTOXICATION OF MATERNAL RATS

Abstract

Ethyl alcohol, whose abuse in the last decade has acquired the character of a national disaster, appears to be one of the most dangerous chemicals with embryotoxic effects. At the same time, data on morpho-functional changes in the structure of the newborn’s body caused by the above-mentioned influence remain fragmentary and contradictory to this day. This actualizes the study of the patterns of prenatal exposure to ethanol in the immunomorphological aspect, taking into account the duration of prenatal alcohol intoxication in females. Of particular interest is the assessment of the restructuring of organs that implement a protective function. The central one is the thymus, which provides differentiation with subsequent integration of various subpopulations of T lymphocytes. In addition, lymph nodes attract special attention, in particular their most numerous conglomerate, mesenteric, since they perform immunological, barrier, and transport functions. The experimental part of the study was performed on 45 newborn female rats born from mongrel females at 32 weeks of age. For 60 days before and during pregnancy, the only source of f luid for the latter was a 15 % aqueous solution of ethanol. All laboratory animals were obtained from the year-round culture of the vivarium of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. A decrease in the number of lymphoid cells and, as a consequence, the relative mass of the thymus was found with an increase in the volume density of its parenchyma. The morphogenesis of the nodes, however, suffers significantly less compared to one-month pregravidar alcohol intoxication. Confirmation of this thesis can be the presence of cranial mesenteric lymph nodes with primary nodules. This indicates the adaptation of the female organism to ethanol as well as a change in its metabolism.