Table 1. Histopathological characteristics of the rat small intestine.

Group	Trophism	Crypts/circumference*	Ulceration	Other changes
Untreated°	Normal	220±12	Absent	-
Histamine#	Normal	242±10	Absent	-
Untreated-5 Gy§	Marked atrophy	160±10a	Severe Anisokaryosis/Oedema
Histamine-5 Gyˆ	Moderate atrophy	239±12b	Moderate	-

^*The mean values of the experimental group were calculated as the average of the number of crypts examined in 10 fields.

^°Representative of small intestines from at least eight saline-treated rats.

^#Representative of small intestines from at least eight 0.1 Mg/kg.day histamine-treated rats;

^§Representative of small intestines from at least eight saline-treated and 5 Gy-irradiated rats;

^ˆRepresentative of small intestines from at least eight histamine-treated and 5 Gy-irradiated rats.

^aP<0.01 vs untreated,

^bP<0.01 vs Untreated-5 Gy (ANOVA and Tukey Post test).