MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN RAT MYOCARDIUM EXPOSED TO HEMIC HYPOXIA AND TREATED WITH CYTOFLAVIN.

: This study was aimed at determining the influence of cytoflavin on the morphological features of contractile cardiomyocytes in female rats after gestation and in newborn rats exposed to hemic hypoxia induced by sodium nitrite (NaNO(2)). The experiment was performed on 28 three-month-old female Wistar albino rats and their offspring (24 seven-day-old newborns). Throughout pregnancy and during 7 days of suckling period, all animals divided into two groups were daily injected intraperitoneally with NaNO(2) at a dose of 5 mg/100 g body weight. Animals in the second test group were additionally injected intraperitoneally with. cytoflavin at a dose of 0.5 mL/100 g body weight. It was found that hemid hypoxia had a strong pathogenic effect on the contractile cardiomyocytes and hemomicrocirculatory bed vessels, which was manifested by the hypoxic and ischernic damage involving violation of the integrity of cellular and mitochondrial membranes. Histological and morphometric studies in animals of the first group showed a significant decrease in the length and area of contractile cardiomyocytes: up to 16.9 and 36.04%, respectively (p = 0.05). In the second group of animals (treated with cytoflavin), these changes were less pronounced: reduction in length and area on the average was 8.2 and 18.6%, respectively (p = 0.05). The administration of cytoflavin reduces the degree of cardiomyocyte damage in female rats after gestation and in newborns, presumably due to the antioxidant and membrane-protective properties of this drug.