CEREBRAL MICROVASCULATURE IN AN EXCLUSIVELY FAT DIET MODEL

Abstract

The microcirculation system plays a major role in the process of food intake and assimilation by the body. It ensures the distribution of oxygen and nutrients among neurons, taking into account their functional activity. The capillaries of the villi in the choroid plexus of cerebral ventricles remain the main source of cerebrospinal fluid production, which determines most physiological functions of the body. The aim of the study is to identify the peculiarities of remodeling of the microvasculature and vascular plexus of the third cerebral ventricle in rats kept exclusively on a fat diet. Materials and Methods. The work was performed on 20 white mongrel male rats (200–250 g.), divided into control and experimental groups. Animals of the control group were on a regular diet. Rats of the experimental group were fed exclusively with fatty food (sheep tail fat). On the 15th and 30th days, the animals were withdrawn from the experiment. A study of biochemical blood parameters (cholesterol, glucose, and protein) was carried out. After decapitation, the brain was fixed in formalin, brain sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (Van Gieson stain). The authors conducted light microscopy and morphometry on an Olympus B×40 microscope (Japan). Results. The animals showed a significant increase in the levels of cholesterol, glucose and albumin in the blood serum under an exclusively fat diet. By the 30th day of the experiment, the smooth muscles of the cerebral arteries undergo paresis, proteolysis, vacuolar dystrophy, hypoplasia with a sharp expansion of the vessel lumen. Signs of myoelastofibrosis are observed in the adventitia. Vein walls are thinned, the lumen is dilated, intravascular thrombi are observed. In the choroid plexus of the 3rd cerebral ventricle, a deficit of plasma flow through the sinusoidal capillaries with compensatory ependymocyte hyperfunction is noted. Conclusion. An exclusively fat diet leads to remodeling of the cerebral microvasculature, including the capillaries of the villi of the choroid plexus of the 3rd ventricle. All changes are compensatory and adaptive in nature. However, by the 30th day of the experiment, some of them become irreversible.