الفهرس 
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Abstract
Introduction: Exposure of rats to stress stimuli causes considerable increase in the activity of pituitary- adrenocortical axis. Noise represents a physical agent increasingly present in the environment, exposure to loud noise occurs daily in many environmental conditions which affecting human being. Loud noise is a very stressful condition leading to ultrastructural changes in several organs like neuro-endocrine glands. Therefore studying the alterations induced by noise could be potentially relevant for environmental medicine. Aim of work: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effect of diazepam administration on the noise induced-histological alterations of rat adrenal cortex. Patients and methods: 24 adult albino rats of both sexes (weighing about 150-200gm) were used in this study. The animals divided into 3 groups, 8 animals each. (A) Animals of the 1st group were used as control. (B) Animals of the 2nd group were exposed to noise 6 hours daily for 14 days. (C) Animals of the 3rd group were injected intraperitonealy with (0.5 mg 100gm body weight) diazepam 30 minutes before each exposure to noise. Results: The serum level of corticosteroid in the control group was found to be 160?7.6 ngml. H & E stained sections of the adrenal cortex of the control rat revealed three concentric zones in the cortex: zona glomerulosa, zona fasciculata and zona reticularis. The cells of zona glomerulosa were arranged in arched groups and appeared columnar with deeply stained nuclei and acidophilic cytoplasm. The cells of zona fasciculata were arranged in parallel cords separated by blood sinusoids. They appeared polyhedral with central, rounded vesicular nuclei and vacuolated cytoplasm. The cells of zona reticularis were arranged in anastmosing cords separated by blood sinusoids. They were polyhedral with central, rounded vesicular nuclei and less vacuolated cytoplasm. Conclusions: The function and the structure of the suprerenal cortex was affected by exposure to noise stress. Also, it was proved that diazepam markedly reduce these changes Therefore, administration of diazepam in stress condition is recommended in order to protect the adrenal gland from the effect of increased secretion of ACTH.