ULTRASTRUCTURAL-STUDY OF THE LATERAL LOBE OF THE PROSTATE OF WISTAR RATS SUBMITTED TO EXPERIMENTAL CHRONIC ALCOHOL INGESTION

Alcoholism is considered today one of the most serious social and medi cal problems. Different investigators have demonstrated that chronic e xposure to alcohol causes morphological and physiological changes in t he testes and in the accessory sex glands, in the prostate in particul ar. In the present study, experimental rats were divided into groups r eceiving sugar cane brandy diluted to 30 degrees G.L. (30%, v/v) and P urina ration ad libitum for 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 days, respective ly. At the end of each period the animals were sacrificed and the late ral lobe of the prostate was collected for histological examination. T he results showed atrophied epithelium, accumulation of lipidic drople ts and rupture of the microvilli that line the cell surface facing the lumen of cells of the secretory epithelium of the lateral lobe of the prostate.