MORPHOFUNCTIONAL STATE OF HEPATOCYTES NUCLEAR APPARATUS IN MONGOLIAN HERBILS AFTER THE FLIGHT ON SPACE APPARATUS FOTON-M3
Morphofunctional state of hepatocytes nuclear apparatus was analyzed in the liver of Mongolian gerbils Meriones unguiculatus returned from 12-d space flight of Foton-M3 (SF) and their vivarium and ground synchronous controls. Volume, ploidy and number of hepatocyte nuclei, nucleolus dimensions and number as well as contacts with karyolemma were determined in the central, intermediate and peripheral areas of the liver classical lobe. Also, total number of mitoses and amitoses was determined in the liver parenchyma. The vivarium control animals displayed specifics of the nucleus apparatus structure that depended on intralobe topography. Based on the selected criteria, high functional activity was characteristic of cells in the intermediate area. According to the criteria, nuclear apparatus in the synchronous control tended to down the functional activity. The adaptive adjustment of nuclei in SF seemed to have been initiated by changes in the hepatic blood flow: volumes of hepatocyte nuclei and nucleoli increased as did the number of nuclei in cell, whereas ploidy made a decrease, especially in the intermediate area. Under the SF conditions, particularly important compensatory mechanism for the liver function was intensification of amitosis and consequent increase of the population of dinuclear hepatocytes.