Undernourishment-induced effects on the liver cytoarchitecture assessed by design-based stereology combined with a novel approach for establishing confidence intervals for quantitative microscopy

• Grant number: 10/00783-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: April 15, 2010
• End date: June 15, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Augusto Coppi Maciel Ribeiro
• Grantee: Antonio Augusto Coppi Maciel Ribeiro
• Host Investigator: Marta Garcia-Finana
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Liverpool, England

Abstract

This work is aimed at investigating the undernourishment-induced effects on the liver cytoarchitecture assessed by design-based stereology combined with a novel approach for establishing confidence intervals for quantitative microscopy. Rats (n= 5) will be fed of a normoproteinic diet (12% casein) or with a hypoproteinic diet (2% casein) (n=5). A third group of rats (n=5) will receive a normoproteinic diet after being subjected to the hypoproteinic diet. The following parameters will be estimated using state-of-the-art design-based stereological methods: liver volume and its confidence interval, total number of hepatocytes and hepatocyte volume. Keywords: Stereology, Undernourishment, Liver (AU)