Hepatic morphonuclear alterations following portacaval shunt in the rat

Portacaval shunt (PCS) induced major biochemical alterations to rat liver. We characterized the chromatin status in the rat hepatocyte at various times after this surgical procedure. The samples studied were from histological imprint smears of liver tissue. Nuclear assessments were computed on Feulgen-stained nuclei by means of a cell-image processor. We described the distribution values of the ploidy, of the percentage of diploid and tetraploid cells per case, of the size of nuclei, and of the chromatin pattern. At the 18th hr post-PCS we observed a complete inversion in the ratio of diploid and tetraploid cells. The size of nuclei increased after PCS and returned progressively to normal values at the 72nd hr post-PCS. The chromatin pattern revealed a mirror image between the small and large dense chromatin clumps (SRL and LRL parameters). Twenty-four hours postsurgery, we observed the minimum value for SRL together with the maximum value for LRL, and these two parameters remained to the normal values within 72 hr post-PCS. Our results show that chromatin organization level is changed during portacaval shunt. They also suggest that the value of SRL and LRL parameters are important in the description of normal or neoplasic cells.