Analysis of morphometric parameters of lung tissue under conditions of exposure to the venom of the vipers Vipera berus berus and Vipera berus nikolskii

Background. According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, since the beginning of 2020, 36 cases of snake bites have been registered in Ukraine, including six children. Their significant prevalence is registered in the southern and eastern regions, and only one species is in the western and northern regions. The venom of vipers consists of about 25 proteins and peptides with enzymatic activity. The latter mainly exhibit hemotoxic effects, but neurotoxic, myotoxic, etc., have also been studied. Objective. Analysis of morphometric indicators of rat lung tissue under the influence of the venom of the vipers Vipera berus berus and Vipera berus nikolskii. Methods. Experimental studies were conducted on white, nonlinear male rats. The animals were conditionally divided into control and experimental groups, 10 individuals each. In saline, experimental rats were intraperitoneally injected with a semi-lethal dose (LD50) (1.576 mg·g-1) of Vipera berus berus and Vipera berus nikolskii venom. Control group animals were intraperitoneally injected with saline only. Rats were removed from the experiment 24 hours after exposure to the venom and euthanised by cervical dislocation. Morphometric studies were performed using a system for visual analysis of histological preparations. Images from histological preparations were displayed on a computer monitor from a MICROmed SEO SСAN microscope using a Vision CCD Camera video camera. Morphometric studies were performed using SEO ImageLabBio, ImageJ, and STATISTICA 10.0 programs. The studies were performed within the specified experimental periods in preparations stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Results and conclusion. The introduction of the venom of the viper Vipera berus berus to rats was accompanied by a significant increase in the average value of the area of blood vessels by 1.31 times compared to the group of intact animals. A significant decrease in the average value of the respiratory department was noted to 0.8. In this group of animals, the indicators of dysatelectasis, atelectasis and emphysematous lung tissue also significantly increased by 6.03, 7.15 and 2.0 times compared to the control rats. When exposed to the venom of the viper Vipera berus nikolskii, the experimental animals showed a significant increase in the average value of the area of blood vessels by 1.55 times compared to the group of intact rats. A significant decrease in the average value of the respiratory department was found to be 0.74. The relative areas of dysatelectasis, atelectasis, and emphysematous areas of lung tissue significantly increased by 6.64, 8.80, and 2.92 times compared to the control group.