[Morphometric study of the ultrastructure of cells of the zona fasciculata of the adrenals in rats under stress]

Abstract

A morphometrical study of cell ultrastructures of zona fasciculata of rat adrenal cortex was performed in norm and after immobilization during 4 or 24 hours. A 4 hour's immobilization (alarm reaction) is characterized by adrenocorticocyte activation: relative volumes of mitochondria and reticulum increase by 1.1 and 1.2 times, resp., and lipid volume decrease by 2.6 times. 24 hours after immobilization (the stage of maximal strain), mitochondrion and reticulum volumes decrease by 1.5 and 1.7 times, resp., compared to the initial ones, and autophagosome volumes increase sharply reaching 11% of the cytoplasm volume, i.e. this is the evidence of degeneration clearly registered morphometrically.