Abstract
The purpose of our work was to study the combined effects of intermittent normobaric hypoxia (INH) and melatonin on morphological changes of the thyroid gland of spontaneously hypertensive rats. The study was conducted on 24 spontaneously hypertensive (SHR lines) male rats in the spring period of the year. At the end of the experiment, the age of the animals was 4 months. Blood pressure in rats was determined at the caudal artery using a sphygmomanometer (S-2 “SHE” Germany). The rats were divided into 2 groups: I – control animals, and II – rats exposed to combined INH and melatonin. The experimental animals were daily given a hypoxic gas mixture (12 % O 2 ) in intermittent mode: 15 min deoxygenation/15 min reoxygenation during 2 hours. Another time of day (22 hours) the rats breathed air. Melatonin (“Unipharm Inc., USA”) was daily administered orally in a dose of 5 mg/kg at 10.00 a.m. The total duration of the experiment was 28 days. Histological preparations were prepared according to a standard methodic. Histomorphometry of the digital images of preparations was carried out using the computer program «Image J». It was found that 28-day combined effect of INH and melatonin has morphological signs of increasing the functional activity of the thyroid of spontaneously hypertensive rats. This is indicated by a decrease in the size of the follicles and colloid, an increase in the number of thyroid cells in the follicle, an increase in the follicular-colloidal index and a decrease in the colloid accumulation index, and a decrease in the width of the interfollicular connective tissue layers. These data may have not only a theoretical value, but also some practical interest in the use of hypoxic gas mixtures and melatonin to enhance the function of the thyroid gland in people suffering from arterial hypertension.
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