Image analysis of the stress-related changes in the follicles of the thyroid gland

Recently evidence was provided that athyroid gland as a link of the hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid axis contributes to the neu-roendocrine adaptational changes initiated bythe hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocorticalaxis under stress conditions. It was demon-strated that stress provoked fluctuation of thethyroid hormones level and structuralchanges in the follicular compartment of thethyroid gland [1,5]. It was also shown thatstress might produce prominent and irre-versible changes in the thyroid gland includ-ing development of the autoimmune thyroidpathology [6] but age-related aspects of theproblem remained underestimated. In ratsdevelopment of a thyroid gland continuesduring the first three weeks of postnatal de-velopment, and after that it enters its matura-tion phase during weaning period [3]. Devel-opment of the thyroid gland in rats of pre-weaning age is influenced by a surge of sexsteroids in blood which effects its maturationeither directly or by implication through thethyroid stimulating hormone [2], which pro-vides complicated interaction between hypo-thalamo-pituitary-adrenal and thyroid axes instress reactions of the growing body.