This study was made to investigate the ultrastructural changes of the hepatocyte of the maternal liver, and fetal liver by Actinomycin D in Wistar rats at the stage of pregnancy. Peritoneal injection of Actinomycin D to rats carried out gestation day ...
This study was made to investigate the ultrastructural changes of the hepatocyte of the maternal liver, and fetal liver by Actinomycin D in Wistar rats at the stage of pregnancy. Peritoneal injection of Actinomycin D to rats carried out gestation day 7 to 9 at the level of $15{\mu}g(11.5{\mu}g/100g$ body wt.), $20{\mu}g(15.8{\mu}g/100g$ body wt.) on each day. Treated animals with saline only were used for controls. Animals were sacrificed on day 15 of gestation. On electron microscopic examination, the hepatocytes of maternal liver given Actinomycin D $15{\mu}g$/ml had evidence of serious cellular damage, for example, hypertrophy of rough endoplasmic reticulum, loss in nucleolar osmiophilia, swelling of Golgi apparatus and change of mitochondrial structure. Maternal liver given Actinomycin D $20{\mu}g/ml$ shown similar changes to that of the $15{\mu}g/ml$ treated animals. But mitochondria of this group were not changed than that of $15{\mu}g/ml$ treated group. In the hepatocytes of fetal liver, changes were more pronounced. The drug produced alteration in nuclei and cytoplasm. The rough endoplasmic reticulum was swollen and there were ribosomes detachement. In addition, damages of mitochondria, Golgi apparatus were detected.