Effect of prenatal hypoxia on the liver of rats

The state of the liver of one-month-old, three-month-old and six-month-old rats exposed to hypoxia during the embryonic period of intrauterine development was studied. It has been shown that prenatal hypoxia has a significant damaging effect on the liver, and the negative aspects of this factor can be traced in the later stages of ontogenesis. Histological study showed that in the liver of one-month-old experimental rats, hepatocyte hypertrophy, an increase in the size of their nuclei, and an increase in the number of binuclear hepatocytes were observed. In a comparative analysis of the data in the control and experimental groups of rats at the age of three months, no significant morphometric changes were observed. However, histological examination of the liver of three-month-old rats revealed small foci of extramedullary hematopoiesis in the parenchyma. Hemodynamic disturbances in the vessels of the liver were also determined. No significant changes in morphometric parameters were observed in the liver of the control and experimental groups of 6-month-old rats. However, melanomacrophage centers were found in the liver parenchyma, which indicates the presence of an inflammatory process. Despite the completion of the recovery processes in 6-month-old rats, the observed inflammatory processes and hemodynamic disturbances showed that prenatal hypoxia causes liver pathologies at later stages of ontogenesis. So, we can conclude that, under the influence of prenatal hypoxia, there are significant changes in the liver parenchyma, which affects the subsequent state of the body.