In some northern regions of Ukraine there is an increased accumulation of salts of heavy metals in soil and drinking water, which negatively affect the health of the population and become a risk factor for many diseases. The role of the pituitary gland in the regulation of functional disorders of hormonal homeostasis in various pathological conditions is extremely important. The purpose of the study is to study the morphological, morphometric and biochemical rearrangements of the structural components of the adenohypophysis of adult male rats under conditions of long-term exposure to salts of heavy metals. Materials and methods. The experiment was performed on 24 white adult male rats, which were divided into 1 control and 1 experimental group. The experimental group consisted of rats, which for 90 days consumed ordinary drinking water, saturated with a combination of salts of heavy metals: zinc (ZnSO4 · 7H2O) – 5 mg/l, copper (CuSO4 · 5H2O) – 1 mg/l, iron (FeSO4) – 10 mg/l, manganese (MnSO4 · 5H2O) – 0.1 mg/l, lead (Pb (NO3) 2) – 0.1 mg/l and chromium (K2Cr2O7) – 0.1 mg/l. Results and discussion. Long-term effects on the body of experimental animals of salts of heavy metals caused a pronounced compensatory-adaptive changes in the pituitary gland of experimental animals of hypoxic nature. Morphological changes in the organ were accompanied by plethora of venous bed, deterioration of rheological properties of blood, increase in the area of connective tissue component of the gland, violation of histoarchitectonics of epithelial trabeculae, edema in the parenchyma, increase in linear indicators of the pituitary gland. Toxic effects of salts of heavy metals negatively affected the cellular composition of the adenohypophysis: there was an increase in the number of chromophobes and a decrease in the number of chromophilic acidophiles and basophils compared with control animals. At the same time, the increase in linear parameters, area of nuclei and cytoplasm of adenocytes can be attributed both to their compensatory hypertrophy and due to edema processes in the gland caused by deepening hypoxic effects and impaired blood flow from the organ as a result of venous plethora. Conclusion. Morphometric and biochemical parameters of the structural components of the anterior lobe of the adenohypophysis at 90 days of exposure to salts of heavy metals, of course, indicate a significant stress of adaptive processes by the adenohypophysis in response to stressors (salts of heavy metals)

Keywords: pituitary gland, chromophiles, hypoxia, salts of heavy metals

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