Contribution to the study of collagen degradation

• Published in: Jornal brasileiro de patologia e medicina laboratorial Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 325 - 332
• Main Authors: Cavalcanti, Andrea, Barbosa Jr, Aryon A., Andrade, Zilton A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Patologia Clínica; Sociedade Brasileira de Patologia; Sociedade Brasileira de Citopatologia 2002; Sociedade Brasileira de Patologia Clínica
• Subjects: CCl4-induced fibrosis; Collagen degradation; Hepatic cirrhosis; MEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY; MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL; PATHOLOGY; CCl4-induced fibrosis; Degradação do colágeno; Collagen degradation; Hepatic cirrhosis; Cirrose hepática; Fibrose hepática induzida por CCl4
• ISSN: 1676-2444; 1678-4774; 1678-4774
• DOI: 10.1590/S1676-24442002000400012

The rate and morphology of collagen degradation were comparatively analyzed in rats with "early" and "late" carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic fibrosis, during three different periods after discontinuation of the drug. Treatment with CCl4 lasted for eight weeks for the group of early fibrosis and 12 weeks for the late fibrosis group. Fibrosis gradually disappeared, but when quantitative methods were applied, the amount of collagen degradation and removal in early and late fibrosis did not reach statistical significance. The light microscope and ultrastructural changes were also qualitatively similar in both cases. Probably some long-lasting effects to the liver, induced by the drug, prevented early hepatic fibrosis from undergoing the characteristic ultrastructural changes seen during "acute" collagen degradation, as compared to other experimental models of hepatic fibrosis, after the causal agent is totally removed. Present findings suggest that not only the age of fibrosis but also the overall damage inflicted to the organ are limiting factors in the process of collagen degradation and removal.