[A histopathological study of the hepatic changes induced by parenteral nutrition in the rat]

Total parenteral nutrition is associated with hepatic metabolic and morphologic changes. Histological alterations induced by administration of glucose plus amino acids (group A) or glucose plus amino acids and lipids (group B) have been investigated in the rat. Parenteral nutrition provided 187 kcal/kg/day in both groups of animals. Rats in group B received 30% of nonprotein calories as lipids (Intralipid). In group A the most frequent histopathological findings were inflammation, portal edema and microesteatosis. Those alterations did not disappear by lipid addition, being frequent the existence of congestive phenomenons and esteatosis together with occasional pigment deposits in Kupffer cells. Those data suggest that supplementation of solutions with LCT-base lipid emulsions does not compensate for the histopathological alterations induced by parenteral nutrition.