Changes in hepatocyte ultrastructure under the influence of chronic furacillin administration to rats

The ultrastructure of rat liver cells was studied during a 6 months' furacilline (5-nitro-2-furtfurilsemicarbazon) feeding in dose of 40 mg per day, and also during the next 8 months after the treatment cessation. An irregular swelling of membranous structure in addition to disorganization and partial reduction of the granular endoplasmic reticulum were found in the hepatocyte cytoplasm after the prolonged furacilline feeding as well as glycogen depletion and the tendency of the agranular endoplasmic reticulum to enlargement. These changes rarely reached the essential intensity with the transition to necrobiosis. They disappeared already a month after the cessation of furacilline treatment. In all the terms of experiment, the nucleoli were hypertrophied and retained their loose nucleoloneme structure. No sings of furacilline carcinogenic activity were found in rat liver during the 14 months of investigation.