Abstract:

Objective: It was aimed to investigate histopathological changes of rat uterus in experimental hyperthyroidism. Methods: 16 new adult Wistar albino female rats weighing 200-220 g were used. Group 1 (Control group) were given 3 ml distilled water for 25 days, Group 2 was given 100 µg/day of L-thyroxine dissolved in 3 mL distilled water by oral gavage for 25 days. In the uterine tissue sections, incubation was performed with the Caspase 3 primary antibody to detect apoptotic cell death and LC3B primary antibody to detect autophagic cell death. Immunositivities were evaluated and histological examination was performed. Results: In terms of apoptotic cell death, no immunopositivity was observed in both group. Differences were found between the groups in terms of autophagic cell death. It was observed that there is hyperplasia in some places in epithelial cells and the cells undergo degenerative changes. In the endometrium, edematous areas and mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltrations were noted. Conclusion: We have observed that hyperthyroidism causes edematous and inflammatory changes in the endometrium of adult rats, increases autophagy. We believe that the increase in autophagy is due to the effect of increased inflammation and impaired homeostasis. Detailed molecular studies are needed to investigate the effects of hyperthyroidism at the tissue level.

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