Abstract

The main histological and histochemical changes in the rat's liver tissue induced by intraperitoneal injection of 5-FU wereinvestigated in this study. Twelve adult female rats were divided into two groups of 6 rats each, group I was given 2 ml/kgbody weight of normal saline for 7 consecutive days and served as the control group, while group II was given 20 mg/kg of 5-fluorouracil intraperitoneally for 7 consecutive days. Specimens of the liver tissue from the two groups were taken andprepared for light microscopic examination. Results showed the appearance of some histological changes in the5-FU recipientgroup (group II) compared to the control group (group I) including congestion of central vein, dilatation and congestion of thehepatic sinusoids, vacuolar degeneration of the hepatocytes, loss of normal histological architecture of the liver, in addition tosever fatty changes and apoptosis of the hepatocytes. Histochemical examination of the liver of the treated group revealed amarked decrease in the carbohydrates including glycogen manifested as weak positive reaction to PAS and Best's carminestains compared to the control group in addition to marked increase in the activity of alkaline phosphatase manifested as astrong reaction to Gomori's alkaline phosphatase stain as compared to the control group. We conclude that 5-fluorouracil hastoxic effects on the liver tissue causing vacuolar degeneration of the hepatocytes, sever fatty changes and apoptosis.

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The article was added to IASJ on 2016-12-15

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