Structural Alterations Caused by Lithium in Skin and Liver Collagen Using an Image Processing Method

The structure of skin and liver collagen fibrils after treatment with lithium chloride at a dose of 1.5 meq Li/kg of body weight was studied by electron microscopy and image processing. A method is described based on a computer-aided analysis of electron optical images of collagen fibrils, in order to measure the fibril diameter. Animals, rabbits and rats, were sacrificed 1-day, 2-, 6- and 12-months after the end of a 30 consecutive days experimental period. Fibrils in disarray interspersed with normal ones were seen, although there were areas where the normal parallel packing of fibrils was completely replaced by a random arrangement. Lithium treated collagen fibrils had a decrease in mean diameter compared to normal with a high variability in width. At later stages, clusters of fibrils were found when viewed in cross-sections, constituted approximately, 2–5% of the whole population.