Evaluation of postnatal development of the ovary of albino rat following heroin administration

ABSTRACT

Twenty four female newly-born albino rats were used for this study. The animals were divided into two groups. The control group contained twelve rats and was injected subcutaneously by distilled water. The treated group contained also twelve rats and was injected subcutaneously by 0.036 mg of pure heroin on the 22 th, 23 th, 24 th days of postnatal life. The ovaries were extracted at 4 and 8 weeks of postnatal life and prepared for light and electron microscopic study. At the 4 th week, ovaries showed different stages of follicular development but most of them were degenerated. The ultrastructure examination revealed that different types of ovarian cells had slight and or severe ultrastructure changes. The slight changes were in the form of small cytoplasmic vacuoles, degeneration of some cytoplasmic organelles, or more heterochromatic nuclei than normal. In other cells the ultrastructure changes were severe in the form of huge cytoplasmic vacuoles, irregular heterochromatic nuclei, or complete loss of the nuclei and cell membranes. At eight weeks treated rats, the light microscopic examination revealed delayed development of the ovaries as evident by complete absence of corpora lutea. Moreover, the ovaries showed more marked degenerative changes in the growing follicles. Also, the ovaries were small in size and showed thick deeply stained germinal epithelium with haemorrhage and congested blood vessels in the hilum and interstitial tissues