Quantitative Analysis of Adrenal Cortical Histological Alterations After Application of Medroxyprogesterone Acetate

Abstract

Results. Gravimetric and variance analysis demonstrated the most remarkable decrease of the adrenal gland weight after the application of 75.0 mg/kg/bw MPA (from 35.66 ± 11.78 to 13.41 ± 8.41 mg (p<0.001). On the other hand, morphometric analysis demonstrated that adrenal cortex volume was the most significantly reduced from 11.30 ± 3.53 in the control group to 2.04 ± 0.90 mm3 in the group treated with 15.0 mg/kg bw MPA (p<0.0001). Adrenal cortex thickness was reduced from 846.06 ± 6.48 to 349.55 ± 4.84 μm after the application of 75.0 mg/kg bw (p < 0.001). After the application of the same dose the glomerular zone thickness was decreased from 48.02 ± 0.44 to 41.40 ± 0.43 μm (p < 0.001), the fascicular zone thickness from 480.72 ± 3.43 to 194.32 ± 2.80 μm (p <0.001) and the reticular zone thicknes reduced from 317.47 ± 4.80 to 113.85 ± 2.28 μm (p < 0.001). The volume of glomerular zone cell nuclei decreased most remarkably from 94.79 ± 0.96 μm3 after the application of 75.0 mg/kg bw to 60.12 ± 0.88 μm3 (p < 0.001). The volume of fascicular zone cell nuceli decreased from 166.30 ± 1.53 to 52.47 ± 0.89 μm3 (p < 0.001), while the volume of reticular zone cell nuceli reduced from 95.61 ± 1.03 to 47.68 ± 0.92 μm3 (p < 0.001). The analysis by means of χ2 test showed that the appearance of tissue necrotic changes in adrenal cortex had a statistical significance only after the application of the highest dose of MPA (p < 0.012).