Mits I. Mechanisms of Viscera Damage in Rats under Stress Impact in Prenatal and Postnatal Periods.

The research focuses on the mechanisms of disturbances in different organs of three-month-old male and female rats under prenatal, postnatal and combined stress. Major functional alterations of the cardiac activity under postnatal stress impact are revealed in ECG changes (prolongation of Р-Q and Q-T intervals in males and rise of T wave amplitude in females). Under prenatal and postnatal stress, cardiointervalographic indices in males showed increasing parasympathetic mechanisms of cardiac protection. Under prenatal stress, this is combined with the minimal area of necrotizing cardiomyocytes. Lipid peroxidation and antioxidant system have been found to get activated considerably in the rat heart. The increase of A, М and G immunoglobulins, most marked in the males under prenatal stress, has been noted. These changes have been found to combine with the maximum thymus involution. Under combined chronic stress, significant morphologic changes occur in the thyroid, ovary and testicles of three-month-old male and female rats.