COMPARATIVE IMMUNOMORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ASTROCYTES AND NEUROCYTES OF THE CEREBELLAR GRAY MATTER IN RATS INFLUENCED BY THE FOOD ADDITIVES COMPLEX

Abstract

Neurological diseases are among the most common in Ukraine, especially given the development of technology in the food industry and the accelerated pace of life, which contributes to an increased number of food additives in nutrition products. The cerebellum is easily affected by adverse effects. Our research aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of immunomorphological changes of astrocytes with neurons in the cerebellar gray matter of rats at different periods of consuming food additives, namely monosodium glutamate (food additive E621), ponceau 4R (food additive E124) and sunset yellow (food additive E110), using glial acid fibrillar protein and NeuN-immunoreactivity reaction. White rats were used in this study. We applied the immunohistochemical marker GFAP to establish protoplasmic astrocytes, and paraffin sections for the Neun-immunoreactivity reaction. Student's T-criterion was used to compare quantitative values in dual series. The difference was considered reliable at values of p<0.05. As a result of the study, histological specimens demonstrated GFAP-positive cells with large perikaryon and numerical processes, which we identified as protoplasmic astrocytes, and NeuN-positive piriform structures, from whose narrowed apex 2-3 dendrites radiated to the molecular layer, and the latter in turn gave numerous branches. We identified these cells as piriform neurons or Purkinje cells. Experimental studies have shown that in both gray and white matter of the cerebellum, there are compensatory and adaptive processes aimed at partial restoration of structural components of the cerebellum, and GFAP-positive structures play a decisive role in this process as a fibrillar framework. Furthermore, the morphometric study found that in the dynamics of the experiment, the average number of NeuN-positive Purkinje cells of the ganglion layer of the cerebellar cortex of rats in different experimental groups (from 1 to 5) significantly increased at p˂0.05 as compared to the control group of animals.