HEPATIC MORPHONUCLEAR ALTERATIONS FOLLOWING PORTACAVAL-SHUNT IN THE RAT

Portacaval shunt (PCS) induced major biochemical alterations to rat li ver. We characterized the chromatin status in the rat hepatocyte at va rious times after this surgical procedure. The samples studied were fr om histological imprint smears of liver tissue. Nuclear assessments we re computed on Feulgen-stained nuclei by means of a cell-image process or. We described the distribution values of the ploidy, of the percent age of diploid and tetraploid cells per case, of the size of nuclei, a nd of the chromatin pattern. At the 18th hr post-PCS we observed a com plete inversion in the ratio of diploid and tetraploid cells. The size of nuclei increased after PCS and returned progressively to normal va lues 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 va lue for SRL together with the maximum value for LRL, and these two par ameters remained to the normal values within 72 hr post-PCS. Our resul ts 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. (C) 1996 A cademic Press, Inc.