Effects of acute administration of ethanol on the rat adrenal cortex.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a single dose of ethanol on rat adrenal cortex and to determine whether the estrous cycle can influence this effect of ethanol.


METHODS
Adult female Wistar rats showing proestrus or diestrus Day 1 (n = 12) were treated intraperitoneally with ethanol (4 g/kg body weight). Untreated (n = 15) and saline-injected (n = 14) rats were used as controls. The animals were sacrificed by decapitation 0.5 hour after ethanol administration. Stereological analysis was performed on paraffin sections of adrenal glands stained with AZAN, and the following parameters were determined: absolute volume of the zona glomerulosa, the zona fasciculata and the zona reticularis, numerical density, volume and the mean diameter of adrenocortical cells and of their nuclei, and diameter and length of capillaries.


RESULTS
The diameter and volume of adrenocortical cells in the zona fasciculata and the zona reticularis were significantly increased by acute ethanol treatment at proestrus. In the same group of animals, a single dose of ethanol induced significant decrease in numerical density of adrenocortical cells and of their nuclei in all three zones. Increased length of capillaries of the zona fasciculata as well as enhanced level of serum corticosterone was found in ethanol-treated rats at both phases of the estrous cycle, proestrus and diestrus Day 1.


CONCLUSIONS
The obtained results indicate that a single dose of ethanol activates adrenal cortex in female rats and that the effect is more pronounced on morphometric parameters at proestrus.
Institute for Medical Research, Dr Subotića 4, P.O. Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Tatjana
T
Milovanović
Mirela
M
Budec
Ljiljana
L
Balint-Perić
Vesna
V
Koko
Vera
V
Todorović
D000302:Adrenal Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D002196:Capillaries / Q000473:pathology; D004971:Estrus / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012016:Reference Values
D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone