Effect of ethanol on liver cell-development in the male albino mouse

The aim of this study is to determine the influence of ethanol on the development of periportal and pericentral hepatocytes and their nuclei, comparing it with the development of these cells and nuclei in a control, age-matched population. In male albino mice fed with 20% ethanol added to drinking water and sacrificed at day 25, 35, 85 and 180 of life haematoxylin-eosin stained liver specimens were studied with the aid of a LEITZ ASM semiautomatic autoanalyzer. The nuclear area of at least 25 hepatocytes with evident nucleoli was measured at each of 3 periportal and 3 pericentral fields. The area of the cells of the same fields was estimated by dividing the area of the fields by the number of hepatocyte nuclei present in them. Both cellular and nuclear areas of periportal and pericentral hepatocytes of the 25-day-old animals were smaller than those of age-matched controls. By contrast, the experimental group showed a striking increase both in cellular and nuclear size in the pericentral hepatocytes, but not in the periportal ones. Thus, ethanol seems to inhibit the initial growth of cells and nuclei; but, after maturation, it causes a marked increase not only in cellular size of pericentral hepatocytes, especially in 180-day-old animals, but also in nuclear size, already evident in the 35-day-old mice.