THE EFFECT OF THREE-MONTHS INTAKE OF SILICON FROM DRINKING WATER ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF AVIDIN-POSITIVE MAST CELLS IN THE SPLEEN OF MICE

Abstract

We investigated the adaptation of the inner organs of laboratory rodents to the intake of silicon from drinking water during many years. The mast cells (MC) are the important objects of our interest. They contain neurotransmitter, biogenic amines and heparin, which can be directly found in them with help of avidin staining. We studied the reaction of avidin-positive MC in the spleen of laboratory mice, which intake the silicon with drinking water at a concentration of 20 mg/l during three months. The white laboratory male mice were divided in two groups. The control group (not treated) of animals received ad libitum bottled drinking water with a silicon in concentration of 10 mg/l, the experimental group received the same water to which nine–water sodium metasilicate was added, so that the total silicon concentration was 20 mg/l. The mass concentration of silicon in water was determined using an inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer 5110 ICP-OES. After three months, the animals were removed from the experiment, the spleen was removed, fixed in 10% neutral formalin and embedded in paraffin. Dewaxed 6 micrometers-thick sections were incubated for 30 minutes at room temperature and stained with avidin labeled with a green fluorescent label (Avidin, Alexa Fluor® 488 conjugate, Invitrogen, Germany). The preparations were studied using fluorescence microscope with an exciting light wavelength of 495 nm. An increase in the number of avidin-positive MC was observed in the red pulp of the spleen of mice treated with drinking water with silicon. The median size of MC in the spleen of mice in the experimental group tended to decrease due to an increase in the proportion of small cells. In mice treated with drinking water with silicon, large TC mast cells have higher luminescence indices, that is, they contain more heparin than in the TC mast cells of the spleen of mice in the control group. Conclusion. The intake of silicon with drinking water at a concentration of 20 mg/l for three months leads to a redistribution of the population of MC in the red pulp of the mouse spleen in size, to an increase in the fluorescence intensity of avidin-positive MC of large size, which indicates an increase in the amount of heparin in them.