C cells in the thyroid of pinealectomized rats

• Autor(a) principal: Lima,Marcus Aurelho de
• Data de Publicação: 2003
• Outros Autores: Lima,Lilian Margareth Biagioni de, Freitas,Leandro Luís Lopes, Barbosa,Patrícia Fernanda Toledo, Borges,Maria de Fátima, Reis,Luiz, Pereira,Gilberto de Araujo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista do Hospital das Clínicas
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0041-87812003000100005
• topic: Thyroid; C Cells; Pineal Gland; Rat; Calcitonin

PURPOSE: To study quantitatively C cells in the thyroids of non-isogenic rats to determine the possible effects of pinealectomy on the number of these cells, and consequently on the synthesis and secretion of calcitonin. METHODS: Twenty male rats of an outbred strain (200-300 g) were used in the present study. One group of 10 animals was pinealectomized 50 days prior to sacrifice. Thyroid tissue was stained for calcitonin (Dako Corporation) at a 1:1500 dilution. The number of C cells observed was expressed as number of cells/cm². Data were analyzed statistically by Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: The number of C cells in pinealectomized and normal animals ranged from 489 to 2084 per cm² and 227 to 1584 per cm², respectively, a difference that was statistically significant (P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results showed consistent differences in the number of C cells after pinealectomy when compared to controls. We believe that pinealectomy increases the number of C cells in the rat thyroid.