Effect of Short and Long Term Restraint Stress on the Histology of Liver, Kidney and Suprarenal Gland in Albino Mice during Postweaning Period

On exposure to stress and for the sake of survival, cells make adjustments with the changes in their environment to the physiologic needs and non-lethal pathologic injury. When the environmental changes are greater than the capacity of the cell to maintain normal homeostasis the cell undergoes acute cell injury. If the injury or insult is removed on time, or the cell can adapt and withstand the injury, the term reversible injury is applied. The processes of adaptation include decreasing or increasing their size, increasing their number, or changing the pathway of phenotypic differentiation of cells.

In the present study, albino mice of postweaning age of BALB C strain (21 days old) were exposed to short term (5 days) and long term (21 days) restraint stress to evaluate any histological changes in the kidney, liver, and suprarenal gland.

Mice subjected to long term stress showed in the kidney degeneration of the cells of the glomerulus and the convoluted tubules. In the liver, they showed congested sinusoids and the presence of some fatty change, whereas in the suprarenal gland mice subjected to 21 days of stress showed moderate hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the adrenal cortex with the presence of moderate lipoid deposits when compared to controls. The overall effect on short term stress was mild when compared to exposure to 21 days stress

Long term stress causes degeneration in hepatic cells, infiltration in the liver, degeneration of glomerulus, Bowman’s capsule, convoluted tubules in the kidney which could lead to nephrotoxicity. In the suprarenal gland, long term stress induces hypertrophy of the adrenal cortex. These morphological changes can explain the impaired immunity which develops in organisms that are exposed to chronic stress.