Noise-induced duodenal lesions

Vibroacoustic disease (VAD) is a systemic disease that results from long-term exposure to low-frequency noise (LFN). VAD can cause lesions in several organs. Noise-exposed individuals frequently present digestive symptoms, but only a few studies have attempted to evaluate gastrointestinal lesions. The aim of this study was to investigate the duodenal alterations in VAD, using an animal model of the disease. Adult Wistar rats were exposed to continuous LFN. After five, nine and thirteen weeks they were sacrificed. The duodenums were studied by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and compared with those of animals kept in silence. Superficial erosions and wide-spread cell death with microvilli coalescence and fusion were observed, by light and electron microscopy. Erosion, cellular degeneration and death, and microvilli destruction, reflect noise-induced duodenal alterations in rats which may be equivalent to the ulcers and dyspeptic symptoms reported in human VAD patients.