AGE FEATURES OF REMODELING OF ARTERIES OF THE PROSTATE GLAND AT ETHANOL INTOXICATION
Authors: Hnatjuk M. S. , Monastyrska N. Ja. , Tatarchuk L. V. , Nesteruk S. O. 
Published: July 2023

Chronic alcohol intoxication leads to damage of almost all organs and systems, the degree of structural and functional disorders of which in this pathology is different and depends on the duration and severity of intoxication. Organs of the reproductive system are always involved in the pathological process with long-term effects of alcohol on the body. Age-related remodeling of prostate arteries in ethanol intoxication has not been studied enough.

The aim of the study: morphologically study the age-related features of prostate artery remodeling under conditions of ethanol intoxication.

Materials and methods. The prostate arteries of 60 white rats were morphologically studied, which were divided into 4 groups: 1 group – 15 intact animals aged 8 months; group 2 – 15 rats aged 24 months; group 3 – 15 8-month-old animals with ethanol intoxication; Group 4 – 15 24-month-old rats with the indicated simulated pathology. A 30% ethanol solution was injected intragastrically at the rate of 2 ml per 100 g of animal weight for 28 days once a day. Animals were euthanized by bloodletting under anesthesia. The external and internal diameters of small-caliber arteries, the thickness of the intima, media, adventitia, intimo-medial, intimo-adventitous, adventitio-medial, Vogenvort and Kernogan indices, and the relative volumes of damaged endotheliocytes were determined on the micropreparations of the prostate. Quantitative morphological indicators were processed statistically.

Research results. The wall of arteries thickens, their lumen narrows, the thickness of the media and adventitia increases, and the studied indices change significantly in ethanol intoxication in the prostate. The thickness of the media in young animals with a pronounced statistically significant difference increased by 49.2 %, in old animals by 50.2 % (p<0.001), and the Wogenvoort index changed by 1.56 and 1.6 times, respectively (p <0.001). The lumen of the studied vessels in young rats was statistically significantly (p<0.001) reduced by 16.6%, in old rats by 35.0%, the Kernoghan index by 12.7 % and 13.0 % (p<0.001), which indicated a marked decrease in vascular permeability and deterioration of  blood supply to the organ. The relative volume of damaged endotheliocytes in the small-caliber arteries of the prostate gland during long-term ethanol intoxication in young rats was equal to (24.80±0.18) %, and in animals of the older age group – (47.60±0.21) %. Light-optically, pronounced vascular disorders, hemoptysis, expansion of mainly venous vessels, perivisceral and stromal edema, foci of dystrophically, necrobiotically, apoptically altered endotheliocytes, epitheliocytes of glandular structures, focal infiltrates and growth of connective tissue were observed in the prostate gland during chronic alcohol intoxication. Swelling of endotheliocytes, their dystrophy, necrobiosis, desquamation and proliferation were also noted.

Conclusions. Ethanol intoxication leads to thickening of walls of arteries of the prostate gland, narrowing of their lumen, atrophic processes in the intima, an increase of thickness of media, adventitia, disruption of the relationship between them, apoptotic, dystrophic and necrobiotic changes in endotheliocytes, endothelial dysfunction, hypoxia, dystrophy, necrobiosis cells and stromal structures, infiltration and sclerosis. The degree of structural rearrangement of prostate arteries dominates in experimental animals of the older age group.