Morphometric assessment of age-related structural changes in the vessels of the microcirculatory bed of the prostate gland under conditions of ethanol intoxication

Abstract

Vessels of the microcirculatory bed ensure the full trophism of the body at the level of capillary-tissue relations
and are the first to respond to various functional and pathological conditions of organs. At the same time, morphological
changes in prostate microvasculature with age under conditions of prolonged ethanol poisoning have been understudied.
The purpose of this study was to determine the age-related remodelling of the prostate vessels of the microcirculatory bed
in case of prolonged alcohol intoxication. Injection, histological, morphometric, and statistical methods were used. The
microvasculature of the prostate gland of 80 sexually mature white male rats of different ages was studied, 40 animals served
as controls, and 40 rats were injected daily for 28 days with a 30% ethanol solution at a dose of 20 ml/kg intragastrically.
Morphometric analysis indicated that chronic ethanol poisoning in white rats significantly reduces the lumens of arterial
microvessels and hemocapillaries, while expanding the venous vessels in the microcirculatory bed of the prostate gland.
When venous congestion occurs, the density of microvessels decreases, and microcirculation bed is disturbed. This
disruption is accompanied by atrophic, dystrophic, and necrobiotic changes in endotheliocytes, epithelial cells, muscle
cells, stromal structures, infiltration, and sclerosing. Intragastric 28-day administration of a 30% ethanol solution at a
dose of 20 ml/kg to laboratory mature white male rats leads to pronounced structural changes in the microvasculature
of the prostate microcirculatory bed: constriction of arterioles, precapillary arterioles and hemocapillaries, dilation of
the capillary venules and venules, which is complicated by significant venous haemorrhage, development of atrophy,
dystrophy, necrosis of vascular endothelial cells, glandular epithelial cells, muscle cells, connective tissue structures, cellular infiltration, and sclerosis. Vessels of the microcirculatory bed play a leading role in ethanol-induced damage of
prostate structures, which dominate in 24-month-old experimental animals.

Received: 17.05.2023 | Revised: 26.07.2023 | Accepted: 31.08.2023