EFFECTS OF ENDOGENOUS AND EXOGENOUS GLUCOCORTICOIDS ON LIVER DIFFERENTIATION

Machin, Celia and Rúa, Carmen and Diaz, BEGONA and Arahuetes, Rosa María (2001) EFFECTS OF ENDOGENOUS AND EXOGENOUS GLUCOCORTICOIDS ON LIVER DIFFERENTIATION. Acta Biologica Hungarica, 52 (1). pp. 63-74. ISSN 0236-5383

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Abstract

The effects of maternal bilateral adrenalectomy on day 1 of gestation and betamethasone treatment on fetal liver development were compared, in terms of biochemical and morphological parameters. For fetuses 20 days old (E20), absence of maternal glucocorticoids during gestation caused an increase in the number of nuclei in whole livers, and a significantly decrease of both body weight and protein content per nucleus, in comparison with the control group (C). Betamethasone injection on days 15, 16 and 17 of gestation into adrenalectomized pregnant rats (ADX + BET) did not completely prevent these effects. The electron microscopic analysis of the ADX fetal liver (E20) showed some hepatocyte lesions such as loss of cytoplasmic organelles, increase in hematopoietic cell number as well as a lower cellular mat- uration in comparison with the control group. The fetal liver from ADX + BET mothers 20 days after ges- tation displayed a noticeable involution of the hematopoietic component in spite of its relatively imma- ture stage. However, there was no significant change in the degree of fetal hepatocyte lesions. Therefore, supply of maternal glucocorticoids from the beginning of gestation is essential for main- tenance of the integral structure of the rat fetal hepatic parenchyma, for the correct maturation of the blood strains and for the beginning of involution of the hematopoietic tissue at the end of gestation.

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