Does The exposition to alcohol in pre and post-natal periods interfere on the formation and maturation of peyer's patches?

ABSTRACT

Maternal alcoholism, both in human beings and in laboratory animals, has been involved in the development of functional immune disturbances in neonates. The present work was accomplished in order to evaluat, through histologic and morphometric techniques, the effect of pre and post-natal chronic alcoholism in the Peyer's patches formation and the maturation of the offspring. The experimental model was set up with male rats, whose mothers received ethanol (3g/kg of body weight) from pregnancy to weaning (40days). The morphometric parameters were obtained with the Morphometric Operating Program (MOP). The littermates from ethanol-treated females presented a significant reduction in the total number of patches (35,53por cento) and lymphoid follicules (27,2por cento). However, no alteration was observed in the area or in the volume of both structures when compared to the control group. The results indicated that the experimental maternal alcoholism during the pre and post-natal periods contributes to the decrease of Peyer'w patches number in neonates and this can be associated to the direct effect of ethanol on the development of organs and cells of the intstinal immune syustem