Morphological alterations in gastrointestinal organs of western-diet obese rats submitted to vertical sleeve gastrectomy or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

To assess the effect of vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) on the esophageal and intestinal morphology of western diet (WD)-obese rats and to characterize the stomach histopathology of WD rats submitted to VSG. Male Wistar rats received WD from 2-4 months of age, to induce obesity, before randomly submitting them to pseudo (WD-SHAM), VSG (WD-VSG) or RYGB (WD-RYGB) surgeries. Gastrointestinal histomorphometry was performed at 3-months post-surgery. The upper esophagus of VSG and RYGB rats increased luminal area, while reductions in the keratin layer of the mucosa and the tunica muscularis were observed only in the RYGB animals. In the lower esophagus, both surgeries increased keratin layer thickness, but reduced the mucosal mucus content, while RYGB increased the thickness of the tunica mucosa and muscularis. The glandular region of the stomach of WD-VSG rats exhibited hypotrophy, epithelial erosion, fibrosis and moderate inflammatory infiltration. VSG and RYGB increased the villi height in the ileum, and the thickness of the tunica muscularis in the jejunum and ileum of WD rats; furthermore, RYGB augmented the ileal villi height. Thus both approaches induced histomorphological alterations in the esophagus and intestine and VSG damaged the gastric mucosa, even over the long-term.

A combined injectable contraceptive improves plasma redox status and does not induce vascular changes in female rats.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the combined injectable contraceptive (CIC) containing estradiol valerate (EV) and norethisterone enanthate (NET-EN) on aorta function and morphology, as well as on redox status, of female Wistar rats. Female rats (9-10 weeks of age) received intramuscular injections of CIC (0.1 mg EV plus 1 mg NET-EN) or castor oil (control group, CTL) for 8 weeks, once a week. Food intake, body weight and systolic blood pressure were measured during the treatment period. Thoracic aortic segments were prepared for isometric tension recording and morphological analysis. Redox status was evaluated by total oxidant status (TOS) and lipid peroxidation (LP) on plasma and reduced glutathione (GSH) on whole blood. CIC group presented lower food intake and lower total weight gain compared to CTL group. There was no change in systolic blood pressure, vascular response of aorta to phenylephrine and acetylcholine and aorta thickness. Plasma TOS and LP values were reduced in CIC group, although GSH was not altered. It was shown that the long-term treatment with the CIC containing EV plus NET-EN does not induce endothelial dysfunction and histomorphometric changes of vascular wall, as well as improves redox status on female Wistar rats.