| Abstract: | Different brain samples were studied in 23 male alcoholics and 14 healthy victims who had died of heart and major vessels wounds to determine histological changes in the brain and quantitative relations between its tissue structures. The complex of histological, stereo- and morphometric examinations has shown that the brain of alcoholics is characterized by sclerosis and hyalinosis of the vascular branches as well as dystrophic, atrophic and hypertrophic changes of neurocytes. Moreover, there were calcinated petrificates and the cysts, foci of demyelination, diffuse microglyosis. These alterations are accompanied with impairment of quantitative correlations between tissue brain structures. The diameter of cerebral capillaries narrows with resultant lessening of vascular bed capacity and chronic brain ischemia. The concentration of nervous cells decreased because of their progressive atrophy and death while the indices of the glyal component development rose. The findings are important for tanatogenesis and postmortem forensic-medical diagnosis of alcoholism. |
