PATHOHISTOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE LIVER AND KIDNEYS OF WHITE RATS UNDER EXPERIMENTAL ETHANOL EXPOSURE

The aim of the present study was to investigate the pathohistological changes in the liver and kidneys of white rats under experimental alcohol intoxication of varying duration, as well as to analyze the morphological parallels between the lesions of these two organs. The experiment used white male rats subjected to daily intragastric administration of a 40% ethanol solution at a dose of 5 g/kg body weight for 30, 60, and 90 days, along with intact control animals. It was established that chronic ethanol exposure causes, in the liver, the sequential development of fatty degeneration of hepatocytes, focal necrosis, activation of Kupffer cells, and lymphohistiocytic infiltration of the portal tracts, and, in the kidneys, vacuolar degeneration and necrosis of the proximal tubular epithelium, congestion of the cortical vessels, and initial signs of glomerulosclerosis. The severity of the morphological changes was directly dependent on the duration of alcohol intoxication.