[Effect of adrenal cortex hormones on the ultrastructure of rat dermal fibroblasts in postnatal ontogeny. Electron...

The effects of hydrocortisone and acetate deoxycorticosterone on the composition of the fibroblast population and the changes in their ultrastructure during the derma development in ontogenesis were studied using the electron morphometry. Hydrocortisone was shown to decrease in the derma of young animals the number of fibroblasts, which actively produce collagen, and to increase the number of fibrocytes and degenerating cells. Hydrocortisone reduced both in young and adult animals the total extent of the rough endoplasmic reticulum membranes, the total area of the rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complex cisternae at the fibroblast section, as well as the area of the cytoplasm. The introduction of acetate deoxycorticosterone increased insignificantly the number of fiblroblasts, which actively produce collagen, in the derma of 2 month old animals. Under its influence the ultrastructure of the fibroblasts changed reliably only at the later stages of ontogenesis. Both the corticosteroids changed the bulk ratios of various organelles in the fibroblast's cytoplasm.