Morphological and biochemical mechanisms of changes in buccal epithelocytes and erythrocytes in children suffering psycho-emotional stress

Abstract

The article provides experimental data on the impact of psychoemotional stress on cytological, morphometric, immunological and biochemical indicators in 7–11 year old children. We examined 100 children of primary school age, who were divided into the main group (50 children who had been resettled from the combat zone) and the control group (50 children, who live in Ivano-Frankivs’k). We used morphological (light-optical and electromicroscopic) and mor phometric analysis of buccal epithelium and peripheral blood erythrocytes, biochemical methods for identifying the products of peroxidation of lipids, ceruloplasmin and ferritin according to widely used methods. Morphological methods revealed that under psychoemotional stress, the size of the nuclei and buccal epithelial cells significantly decreases, and their nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio changes towards increase in the share of cytoplasm, and the indicators of coefficient of buccal epithelial cell shape indicate significant deformation of those cells. Similar changes were observed in the erythrocytes of peripheral blood. In the blood, we observed an increase in the CD95+ concentration of lymphocytes. Clearly manifested changes in morphological and morphometric indicators of buccal epithelium and erythrocytes when there is an increase in the CD95+ level of lymphocytes indicate the development of a systematic apoptosis reaction of the studied cells in the condition of psychoemotional stress. Also we observed clearly manifested changes in the coefficient of erythrocytes’ shape, their size and perimeter, increase in the number of reversibly and irreversibly changed cells, which with increase in free radical oxidation, indicates disorders in the organism’s antioxidant protection system in general and requires a pathogenically grounded programme of treating complications related to psychoemotional stress among 7–11 years old children who were resettled fom the combat zone in Eastern Ukraine.