Modification of liver reparative regeneration in laboratory animals after partial hepatectomy

Objective. To investigate the effect of cytoflavin on the adaptive liver growth after partial hepatectomy (PH).

Materials and methods. An experimental study was conducted on 60 male white mice aged 7–8 months, weighing 24–31 g. All animals were divided into three groups: group 1 – intact mice; group 2 – operated control mice, who received saline NaCl instead of the drug; group 3 – the main group of animals, who underwent partial hepatectomy, after which they received сytoflavin. Partial hepatectomy was performed by Claudia Mitchell and Holger Willenbring technique (2008). The preparation cytoflavin (Russia) was injected intraperitoneally at a dose of 0.014 ml /10 g of body weight for 7 days once daily. Morphological and morphometric studies of hepatobiopsy specimens were conducted. Statistical analysis was carried out using the methods of nonparametric statistics.

Results. It was found that 3 days after PH, in the liver of animals of the main group, the number of dystrophically altered hepatocytes decreased by 25 times, the mitotic index increased against the background of the preserved radial-beam structure. There was an increase in the size of the cytoplasm and nucleus by 1.5 times relative to the intact group (p <0.05), that is associated with adaptive hypertrophy. At the same time, on the 3rd day, in the control group the number of dystrophically altered cells was several times higher than in the intact animals and was accompanied by an increase in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes as a result of vacuolar degeneration after PH.

Conclusions: The use of cytoflavin leads to an increase in the mitotic activity of the partially resected liver, while the level of binuclear cells decreases. The manifestations of hepatocyte dystrophy also decrease. Comparison of the dynamics of the morphometric parameters of hepatocytes in animals of the control group and those who received cytoflavin after PH suggests that the studied drug stimulates the recovery processes in the liver during induced regeneration.