Specific effect of maternal ethanol consumption on the retina and optic nerve myelination of mice offspring a. stereological and pathological study

Pregnant mice were injected intraperitoneally with a single dose of a 25% ethanol solution on day 12 of gestation. At the same time, control animals were given a same dose of saline. Retina, optic, tibial and saphenous nerves were prepared for light and transmission electron microscopy from offspring at one, two, three, four and six months of age. The number and cross-sectional areas of the myelinated axons were analyzed using a recent stereological technique. The study suggested that the alcohol administration during pregnancy in critical time of visual system development results in late atrophy of myelinated axons in the optic nerve. This effect which is specific to the central nervous system is stable and non-progressive with no deleterious effect on the peripheral nervous system

Chronic alcoholism and morphological changes in hypophyseal gonadotropic cells of rat [stereological and ultrastructural study]

Adenohypophysis of male albino rats received 15% solution of ethyl alcohol for five months was examined by light and electron microscopy for the detection of morphological changes in hypophyseal gonadotropic cells as compared with the control group. Light microscopy revealed hyperplasia and hypertrophy of gonadotropic cells with the presence of vacuoles of varying size in large gonadotrophs. The increase of the volume and the numerical density of the gonadotropic cells of alcoholized rats in comparison with the control ones was proved by recent stereological methods. Ultrastructural results showed an increase in the number and size of gonadotrophs with the presence of large vacuole, which was formed by fusion of dilated cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum. The results offered a morphological basis to the adoption of a biphasic effect of alcohol on gonadotropic secretion

Stereological and ultrastructural study of seminiferous tubules in normal testes and in patients with varicocele

Testicular biopsies from fertile men and patients with varicocele were evaluated and examined by using the recent stereological technique and electron microscope. This study quantitated the seminiferous epithelium using the stereological methods. The numerical density of the germ cells was generally reduced in patients with varicocele when compared with that in the normal fertile men. However such reduction was not associated with a similar change in the supporting Sertoli cells. Moreover, the different ratios between various germ cells and Sertoli cells were statistically reduced in varicocele group. The seminiferous tubules were examined by light and electron microscope. The tissue architecture of the tubules in varicocele patients ranged from mild to severely altered. In affected tubules, spermatid nuclear and acrosomal morpology was abnormal. Sloughing of the individual germ cells as well as the vacuolization and degeneration of the Sertoli cell cytoplasm were evindent. Furthermore, Sertoli-spermatid junctional complexes appeared to be structurally abnormal, whereas Sertoli-Sertoli junctional cornplexes appeared to be structurally intact. On the basis of the results in this work, the Sertoli cell is, in fact, the primary intratubular site of alteration in varicocele patients leading secondarily to sloughing and spermatogenic disruption

Umbilical artery flow velocity waveforms, relationship to villus vasculature, cord length and umbilical artery diameter

Twenty nine term pregnant women were subjected to Doppler ultrasound study of the umbilical artery flow velocity waveform and the systolic diastolic ratio [S/D] was calculated. The pregnancy was uncomplicated in 15 women while 14 had preeclampsia. Women were classified into normal [<3] and abnormal >3 S/D ratio. After delivery, infants and placentas were weighed, number of small muscular arteries per tertiary stem villus was counted and cord length as well as the average diameter of the umbilical arteries were measured. In a multiple regression analysis, none of the above variables in addition to maternal age, had significant influence on the S/D ratio. When groups were compared, again none of the variables showed significant difference between the group with normal and the group with abnormal S/D ratio. The S/D ratio and cord length were comparable in the preeclamptic and normal women, while the number of arteries per villus was fewer in preeclamptic cases [P<0.05] who also had wider umbilical artery diameter [P< 0.05]. We conclude that the relation between placental vascular resistance and the umbilical artery S/D ratio is not a simple one as each may be altered independent from the other. This must be considered when measurement of the umbilical S/D ratio is clinically interpreted