Starvation is a severe reduction in vitamins, nutrients, and energy intake, and is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In human, prolonged starvation causes permanent organ damage and, eventually, death. A number of factors may result in starvation as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, intentional fasting, prolonged coma, stroke, inability to obtain food or severe gastrointestinal diseases beside poverty and over- population.
The objective of this work was to determine the effects of starvation on gastric and jejunal epithelium in starved rats. Eighty normal male adult albino rats, weighing 150-180 g, were divided into four equal groups. First group served as control (group I) and had a free access to food and water, second, third and fourth groups were given access to water only for 24 hours (group II),48 hours (group III) and 72 hours (group IV) respectively. At the end of the experimental period, the rats were sacrificed, the stomach and jejunum were subjected to histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations .The histopathological examination of the stomach of control rats (group I) and the rats starved for 24 hours (group II) showed no pathological changes while the stomach of the rats starved for 48 hours (group III) showed gastric mucosal cells swelling, ballooning, vacuolar and hydropic degeneration with necrotic changes in the form of lyses, nuclear pyknotic changes, nuclear fragmentation, and appearance of apoptotic bodies. Mononuclear inflammatory infiltration was seen, all changes were predominant and more severe in the rats starved for 72 hours (group IV). At the same time, the jejunum of the rats starved for 48 hours (group III) showed fragmentation of intestinal villi, focal glandular epithelial cells, and mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration in submucosa with necrotic changes was seen. All changes were more severe in the rats starved for three days (group IV). No pathological changes can be detected in control rats (group I) and the rats starved for 24 hours (group II). Immunohistochemical staining of stomach and jejunum revealed that Bcl-2 was expressed in the rats starved for 24, 48 and 72 hours. At the same time, Bcl-2 was not expressed in all rats of control group. In conclusion, this study reveals that starvation can induce marked apoptotic and severe histopathological changes in the gastric and jejunal epithelium.
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