The present work aimed to investigate the microscopic and ultramicroscopic structure of the liver to assess the level of hepatic impairment during pregnancy toxemia. Seven pregnant small-tailed Han sheep of negative urine ketone bodies were assessed in this study. Toxemia was induced by limiting food and movement late in pregnancy. Three sheep developed obvious clinical symptoms with motor weakness, depression, anorexia, locomotion disturbances, blindness and languishment. We harvested their liver tissues as pathological material, and used routine histological and electronic microscopy methods to observe the histopathological changes in small-tailed Han sheep induced by pregnancy toxemia. Autopsy of the livers of the sheep revealed deep yellow coloration, intumescence and hemorrhage on the surface. Microstructural features indicated fatty degeneration, which is a main characteristic of fatty liver. Hepatocellular ultrastructural changes were observed under an electronic microscope. The characteristic findings were nucleolus concentration, vacuolation of mitochondria and excessive glycogen granules in the cytoplasm. Via this experimental protocol, pregnancy toxemia of sheep was successfully induced, providing a pathological model for the study of this disease. After the experimental induction of pregnancy toxemia, the clinical symptoms of pathogenic sheep and pathological changes to their livers exhibited obvious characteristics of pregnancy toxemia.
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