Morphometric Description of Muscles of the Tongue Under the Experimental Combined Effect of Food Additives

Abstract

The peculiarities of the structural organization of the tongue quite often become the object of research by domestic and foreign researchers. At the same time, most of the contemporary scientific works are devoted to the study of the structural features of the lingual mucosa. Changes in the muscles of the tongue under the influence of certain unfavorable factors, in most cases, are insufficiently described. Aim: experimental study of the morphometric parameters of muscles of the tongue of the albino rats in introduction of complex food additives (monosodium glutamate, sodium nitrite, Ponceau 4R) into the ration over a period of 16 weeks. 60 outbred albino rats were involved into the study. The ration of experimental animals was supplemented with complex food additives, namely, monosodium glutamate, Ponceau 4R, sodium nitrite for 1 and 4 weeks. Animals of the experimental groups, in addition to the standard diet, received a combination of food additives monosodium glutamate, ponceau 4R, sodium nitrate for 1, 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks. The animals were sacrificed under thiopentone anesthesia overdose. Conventional histological microspecimens were made from tongue preparations, stained with hematoxylin and eosin. On the microspecimens, the ratio between the muscle and connective tissues, the diameter of the muscle fibers of the tongue on the tip, body and base were measured. The findings of the studies have shown that introduction of complex food additives (monosodium glutamate, sodium nitrite, Ponceau 4R) into the ration of laboratory animals for one week leads to an increase in the relative amount of muscle tissue in the tongue and to a heterogeneous change in the diameter of muscle fibers on the tip, body and base. The described parameters resulted from the changes in the nature of the movement of the tongue in the process of food mixing, when adapting to changes in the ration. Starting from week 4 of consumption of complex food additives supplemented into the ration of the laboratory animals, progressive atrophic changes were observed in the muscle fibers of all parts of the tongue, manifested by a gradual decrease in the diameter. At the same time, gradual decrease in the relative amount of muscle fibers and an increase in the relative amount of connective tissue were noted in the tongue of experimental animals.