Clinical and morphophysiological hepatic alterations caused by the ingestion of food with added ricinoleic acid esters a bioactive with acaricidal potential: Alterações hepáticas clínicas e morfofisiológicas causadas pela ingestão de alimentos com adição de ésteres ricos em ácido ricinoleico um bioativo com potencial acaricida

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of castor oil ricinoleic acid through analysis of blood biochemical parameters and the liver morphology of female rabbits (animal model). The results of Bioassay 1 and Bioassay 2 showed that the reference indexes of the hepatic enzymes alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and alanine aminotransferase were not significantly altered. However, the hepatic enzyme aspartate aminotransferase of the rabbits tested in Bioassay 2 presented alterations, suggesting a hepatotoxic effect of the esters. The morphological and histological data showed that the liver of the rabbits fed with the ester-added food presented the following alterations:  a) disorganization of the hepatic cords; b) an increase in intercellular spaces; c) hepatocytes with barely evident cell limits; and d) hepatocytes with irregular and pyknotic nuclei, in most cases displaced to the periphery of the cell due to extensive vacuolation. The histochemical analysis showed that the hepatocytes of the rabbits fed with commercial food with added esters had a decrease in lipid content and an increase in the levels of stored cytoplasmic glycogen