Abstract

It has been well documented that ethanol is toxic to hepatocytes and that peroxisomes are key organelles in the metabolism of ethanol. Lieber (1985) has confirmed that when rats are fed a 30% ethanol-derived calories diet for three weeks there are noticeable ultrastructural changes such as the accumulation of lipid (steatosis) and the hypertrophy of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum. We sought an efficient costeffective technique for obtaining reliable quantitative documentation of subtle changes within organelles of hepatocytes after rats were fed a 30% ethanol-derived calories diet for two weeks. One hundred micrographs of match paired ethanol-fed rats (n = 5) were compared with 100 micrographs of controls (n = 5) and analyzed by the point counting method; with a digital planimeter using SigmaScan/Image software (Jandel Inc.) and calculations were made using Excel v. 4.0 (Microsoft Corp.); as well as with Optimas image analysis software (Bioscan). Micrographs were taken with a Zeiss EM 10 transmission electron microscope.

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