Abstract
The immunohistochemical distribution and expression of the three markers in cardiomyocytes were evaluated in three groups of mice: a control group, mice exposed to 5 mg/kg b.w./day sodium dichromate (group A) and mice exposed to 100 mg/kg b.w./day lindane (group B).All mice were sacrificed after 2 months of chronic exposure to the chemicals.Hematoxylin eosin staining revealed thickening of the anterior walls and thinning of the posterior walls of the left ventricle.Anterior and posterior vessel wall densities increased by a factor of about 1.5 in group A and about 2 in group B compared to the control group.Posterior wall vessel diameters declined by a factor of 3.7 in group A and 2.9 in group B. Immunohistochemical staining showed that sodium dichromate was associated with significantly lower expression of CD117 (p = 0.019) and p53 (p = 0.002) than in controls, whereas VEGF expression increased (p = 0.03).In mice exposed to lindane, the results showed an opposite, though not significant trend, namely increased levels of CD117 and p53 and decreased levels of VEGF expression with respect to the control group.We observed significant changes in ventricular wall thickness, vessel density, vascular growth factor expression and mast cell apoptosis, directly correlated with exposure to lindane.