Sodium nitrate affects myocardium in pregnant rats and their pups

Abstract

The problem of pollution with nitrates and nitrites of the natural environment is very relevant nowadays. The purpose of this research was to study the morphological features of the myocardium in pregnant rats and their newborn pups exposed to chronic hemic hypoxia induced by sodium nitrite. The changes in the contractile apparatus of cardiomyocytes were atrophy and lysis of myofibrils which were most pronounced at the periphery of the cardiomyocytes, near the capillaries. A similar condition of the microcirculatory vessels accompanies absolutely all types of cardiomyopathies, regardless of the genesis of the disease. Cell-stromal relationships on the background of chronic myocardial ischemia cause destructive processes of myocardial remodeling. The final morphological outcome of prolonged hypoxic heart damage can be focal dystrophy of the myocardium, which leads to the development of chronic heart failure and the appearance of life-threatening arrhythmias.