EFFECT OF SYSTEMATIC GRAVITATIONAL OVERLOADS ON STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF THE ADRENALS AND THYMUS IN AN EXPERIMENT

Effects of various anthropo-ecological factors on organism are one of the central topics of present-day morphology. Subject of our investigation was structural transformations in the adrenals and thymus as a result of systematic exposure to gravitational overloads (GOL), and arginine glutamate as a corrigent agent. Light and electron microscopy techniques were used to explore morphological changes in the adrenals and thymus of 24 adult male Wistar rats with the initial body mass of 260–280 g. Over the period of 45 days, the rats were daily exposed to 10-minute rotation at 9 G with and without injection of 4 % arginine glutamate solution as an antioxidant and membrane stabilizer. It was established that systematic exposure to extreme GOL produces serous changes in the structural and functional organization of both organs such as obvious hemodynamic disorders and degenerative structural effects in all cell populations. The extent of structural changes attests to adaptation failure and development of irreversible damages. The experiment showed that prolonged injection of arginine glutamate failed to abate these morphofunctional disorders in the adrenals and thymus and to enhance adaptive potential during the systematic rotation at extreme GOL.