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Abstract Background and objectives: Inhalation anesthetics are used in human, as well as veterinary medical practice. In the present study we investigated the effect of isoflurane and sevoflurane on rat hepatocytes. Methods: A total of 40 Wistar female rats were used in this study. Animals were divided in groups of 5 rats. Groups IM, SM served as control groups. Groups I1, I2, I3 were used to study isoflurane and S1, S2, S3 for sevoflurane study. They were anesthetized 3 times, for 2 h long, at 2 days interval with a concentration of: 1.5% isoflurane (I1, I2, I3) and 2% sevoflurane (S1, S2, S3). The oxygen supply throughout the anesthesia was 1 L O2/min. Groups IM, IS, I1, S1 were sacrificed immediately after the last anesthesia. Groups I2, S2 were sacrificed 6 h after the last anesthesia, and groups I3, S3, 24 h post-anesthesia. Liver samples were harvested to highlight caspase-3 in apoptotic hepatocytes. Results: Following isoflurane administration, there were less than 1% cells in apoptosis highlighted in rat livers from groups IM, I1 and I2. At 24 h post-anesthesia (group I3), a small number of apoptotic hepatocytes was highlighted (around 3.23% cells in apoptosis), with a strictly periacinar disposition, randomly distributed in a small number of hepatic lobules. After sevoflurane administration, less than 1% apoptotic hepatocytes were identified at all control moments throughout the study. Conclusions: The results suggest that the anesthetics do not present a considerable hepatotoxicity. The comparative assessment of the two anesthetics shows that sevoflurane is superior to isoflurane.

The major and minor salivary glands are responsible for saliva production, a fluid drained in the oral cavity that will be involved in several functions at this level. The present study aimed to compare the microanatomy of the major (parotid, mandibular, sublingual) and minor salivary glands (von Ebner's and Weber's) of the Wistar rat, from a histological, histochemical and morphometrically point of view. Predominantly serous glands (parotid, mandibular and von Ebner's) showed differences in the secretion composition on both PAS and alcian blue reactions. The same observations were identified also for the mostly mucous salivary glands (sublingual and Weber). In terms of surface dimensions, the measurements suggested that the mucous acini have a greater surface compared with the serous ones, and, at the same time, a better‐represented polymorphism. In conclusion, the major and minor salivary glands in Wistar rats, a commonly used species in experimental procedures, showed similarities with other species including humans, but some structural traits are breed‐specific, this finding is very important for an extensive understanding of the morphophysiology of the salivary glands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]