CHANGES IN LIVER STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION AFTER SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM TREATMENT OF RATS WITH DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE

The effects on the liver of feeding a diet containing 0.2% dehydroepia ndrosterone were studied after short (7 d) and long (100 d) periods of treatment in rats. The short-term treatment caused hypertrophy of the hepatocytes that, at the ultrastructural level, seemed to be due to p roliferation of peroxisomes and (to a minor extent) of mitochondria. T he mitochondria seemed to have undergone transition from expanded to c ondensed configuration; accordingly, after isolation, their rate of co upled respiration was greater than that of control mitochondria. After long-term treatment, the structure of the hepatocytes reverted toward normal. In fact, at the ultrastructural level, the number and the siz e of peroxisomes was not significantly different from those of the con trols, but degenerative phenomena were observed in the mitochondria. A ttempts are made to explain the above ultrastructural and biochemical findings in view of the effects of dehydroepiandrosterone on the energ y metabolism of liver.