Alterations of nucleolar organizer regions of smooth muscle cells in bile duct following biliary ligation in rat.
Clinical experience indicates that bile duct dilatation is often associated with patients presenting with cholestasis. The purpose of this study is to propose a hypothesis that such a biliary dilatation, resulting from extra-hepatic obstruction, partially contributes to the rapidly occurring hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the smooth muscle cells in the bile duct; and that such an alteration could possibly lead to the development of neoplastic tissue. Twenty seven male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: Control Group (n = 7) with sham operation, Day 4 Group (n = 6) with common bile duct ligated for 4 days, Day 7 Group (n = 7) with common bile duct ligated for 7 days, and Day 14 Group (n = 7) with common bile duct ligated for 14 days. Complete extrahepatic biliary obstruction was induced in Wistar rats by distal ligation of the common bile duct (CBD). The CBD specimens were stained by H & E and argyrophilic techniques (AgNOR method), and the smooth muscle cells were identified and studied with light microscopy and an image analyzer. To determine maximum width of cell size, the widths of smooth muscle cells were found to be 2.82 +/- 0.07 microns, 3.05 +/- 0.06 microns, 4.53 +/- 0.10 microns, and 4.89 +/- 0.12 microns (Mean +/- S.E.) for the Control Group, Day 4 Group, Day 7 Group and Day 14 Group, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Faculty of Medicine, Queen's University Kingston, Canada.
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D000818:Animals; D001652:Bile Ducts / Q000473:pathology*; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000473:pathology; D003135:Common Bile Duct; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic / Q000473:pathology; D008026:Ligation; D008297:Male; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000473:pathology*; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar