[Splanchnic remodeling secondary to experimental prehepatic portal hypertension]. / Remodelación esplácnica secundaria a hipertensión portal prehepática experimental.

OBJECTIVE: Portal hypertension as an inducer of intestinal inflammatory response would cause epithelial and splanchnic vascular remodeling in the long-term. This experimental study was carried out to verify this hypothesis. METHOD: Structural alterations characteristic of intestinal epithelial and mesenteric vascular remodeling, the density of goblet cells and the diameter of mesenteric vein branches were studied, respectively, in rats with partial portal vein ligation in the short (1 month) and long-term (1 year). RESULTS: Hyperplasia of goblet cells in the small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, ileum) is maximum after 1 year of evolution of the portal hypertension and is associated with dilatation of the distal branches (3rd and 4th order) of the superior mesenteric vein. CONCLUSION: Long-term splanchnic remodeling in experimental portal hypertension suggests the existence of a chronic inflammatory process in this clinical condition.

[Primary effusion lymphoma associated with type-8 human herpes virus infection]. / Linfoma primario de cavidades asociado a infección por herpes virus humano tipo 8.

Primary Effusion Lymphoma is an unusual entity and it has been described as a subset associated with human herpes virus 8 infection in homosexual males with AIDS. Its inclusion as a new entity in the Revised European-American Lymphoma Classification has been recommended. The case in which it is presented is a 47-year-old man, diagnosed with AIDS two years ago, who came with Kaposi's sarcoma. Nowadays, he has a right pleural effusion and a thoracentesis has been carried out. We obtain 10 ml of haemorrhagic fluid which is processed by standard methods. The morphologic study reveals a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of high-grade. The immunophenotypic study shows a lymphoid neoplasm of indeterminate lineage and high proliferation index. It confirms the HHV-8 in the neoplastic cells by PCR. The diagnosis is a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of high-grade compatible with Primary Effusion Lymphoma.

[Hepatic alterations in a model of alcoholism in the rat]. / Alteraciones hepáticas en un modelo de alcoholismo en ratas.

Today, there are a great number of investigations about alcoholism. The effects of alcohol had been studied in Medicine, Psychology, Biology, Biochemistry, Physiology or Pharmacology. Many investigations are carried out with humans, however, in most experiments is necessary to use animal models. Many experimental models of alcoholism in animals are usually used in the laboratories and they present several differences among them. In our investigation we have studied the hepatic alterations in an experimental model of alcoholism in the rat because the liver is a very sensitive organ which suffers the effects of alcohol and its metabolites. We try to demonstrate that there are hepatic lesions which allows the use of this experimental in the study of the behavioral and neural parameters in the rat. The experimental model of alcoholism that we propose has been considered appropriate to study the behavioral effects of alcohol, not only because the animals show the characteristic hepatic lesions, but also because they do not suffer manipulations that could alter them and as a consequence bias the behavioral data.

[Study of histoenzymatic activity of isocitrate-DH in the hepatic tissue of rats treated with AZT: image analysis]. / Estudio de la actividad histoenzimática isocitrato-DH en tejido hepático de ratas tratadas con AZT mediante análisis de imagen.

OBJECTIVE: Recently has been described alterations in different organs of HIV + patients treated with zidovudine (AZT), as secondary effect from drug administration. METHOD: We have developed and experimental rat model, in which the rats were administered AZT in drinking water and we have analysed the activity of enzyme isocitrate DH, of Krebs cycle, in hepatic tissue sections. Histological technique were employed and image analysis to objectivate the results. RESULTS: A significant statistic decrease of the enzyme activity in those animals treated with AZT were observed, compared with the control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The modification from enzyme activities related with Krebs cycle can be traduced in mitochondrial alterations, that could have direct or indirect influence in the appearance of some associated pathologies to the AZT treatment.

Histochemical and ultrastructural changes induced by zidovudine in mitochondria of rat cardiac muscle.

Zidovudine (azidothymidine, AZT), a drug used in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), blocks reverse transcriptase and therefore inhibits human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication. We carried out an ultrastructural and histoenzymatic study in rat cardiac muscle. Groups of animals (3 rats per group) were given drinking water with or without AZT (1 or 2 mg AZT/ml). After 30, 60 and 120 days, the hearts were studied by light and electron microscopy. Histochemical analysis of isocitrate, succinic, malic, NADH and NADPH dehydrogenase activities revealed no changes in AZT-treated rats compared with control rats. The ultrastructural study showed a disruption of cristae and an increased size of mitochondria in rats treated with AZT for 30- and 60-days. No alterations were observed in rats that received the 120-day treatment. A statistical analysis based on electron micrographs demonstrated a time-dependent ratio between intact and disrupted mitochondria. Rats that received AZT for 30 days showed a higher number of abnormal mitochondria than rats that received the 60 day treatment. No differences with respect to rat controls were observed in the rats that received AZT for 120 days. We conclude that AZT-induced ultrastructural alterations in cardiac muscle did not modify the histochemical activity of several mitochondrial enzymes.