Eastern Journal of Medicine, vol.25, no.1, pp.41-44, 2020 (Scopus)
Alcohol is an agent with known toxic effects on body organs and tissues. It injures heart tissue, causing arrhythmia, left
ventricular hypertrophy, and sudden death. In the present study we aimed to determine ethanol’s detrimental cardiac
effects using the stereological technique. We enrolled 13 male Wistar albino rats. They were randomized into two groups as
the Control (n=6) and Ethanol (n=7) groups. The ethanol group was orally administered 6.4% ethanol mixed with drinking
water. The control group was subjected to no application. These procedures were continued for 1 8 days. At the end of the
experiment the cardiac tissue was excised under anesthesia and the left ventricle was dissected. It was then subjected to the
routine light microscopic histological examination procedure and embedded in paraffin. Sections of 5µm t hick were taken
and stained with Hematoxylin & Eosin. In the stereological measurement the modified method of the Cavalieri principle
was used. We detected the volume of left ventricular wall increase by the stereological technique, supporting the view tha t
alcohol forms left ventricular hypertrophy