MORPHOFUNCTIONAL ALTERATIONS OF THE STOMACH IN AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF CHRONIC STRESS
Keywords:
experimental stress; chronic stress; stomach; gastric mucosa; morphofunctional changes; organometry; morphometry; laboratory rats.Abstract
Stress is an adaptive neuroendocrine response to factors that disturb homeostasis, and its chronic form is increasingly recognised as a driver of digestive pathology. The stomach is one of the most stress-sensitive organs, yet the dynamics of its structural and functional remodelling under experimental stress remain insufficiently described. The aim of this work is to characterise the morphofunctional changes of the rat stomach under continuous experimental stress. The study is performed on 120 white laboratory rats divided into control and experimental groups; stress is induced by keeping the animals in special labyrinth cages, and the material is examined on days 3, 7, 14, 21 and 30. Anatomical-topographic, organometric, histological (hematoxylin–eosin and Van Gieson staining), morphometric and biochemical methods are applied. The study is expected to provide new data on stress-related changes in gastric anatomy and mucosal morphology, forming a morphological basis for the prevention and early diagnosis of stress-associated gastric disorders.
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