Rats' liver morphological features under conditions of different supply with vitamins and minerals

The current practice of novel food safety assessment in the Russian Federation involves toxicological studies on the alimentary model of adaptation potential reduction of laboratory animals. Since vitamin and mineral deficiency can affect the size of structural elements of tissues, an objective estimation of the results obtained using this model is possible when determining the range of fluctuations of the studied morphometric parameters under conditions of different essential substances' supply, as well as under conditions of simulated toxic effects on the background of the corresponding supply. of the research was to investigate the morphological and morphometric features of the liver under the influence of reduced intake of vitamins and mineral elements in the combination with toxic effects of various nature, during growth and puberty of male Wistar rats. . The article analyzed data of 4 model experiments on 140 animals that received semi-synthetic casein diet with different supply of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and mineral elements Fe and Mg , as well as data of 2 experiments on 180 animals with simulated toxic load of cadmium (Cd ) salts and carbon tetrachloride. The animals were ~95 days old at the time of sampling, the duration of the experiments was ~65 days. For the analysis we used data on rats' body weight on the day of material sampling, absolute and relative liver weight, hepatocyte diameter, nucleus diameter and hepatocyte cytoplasm size in the central and peripheral zones of hepatic lobules. A total of 200 cells were analyzed in each group of animals. In accordance with the study design, all quantitative traits of the groups that received diets with an essential nutrient supply ranging from 75 to 2% were compared with the group that received a complete diet (100%). . Morphometric examination of hepatocytes revealed a linear decrease in the size of cell structural elements in the series of reducing the content of essential micronutrients in the diet. Under the conditions of 2-4% vitamin and mineral supply, cell and nucleus diameters as well as cytoplasm size were by ~16.8, 12.6 and 21.1% (p