[Morphofunctional changes in the thyroid gland after cyclophosphamide administration and their reversibility]

By using histological morphometric stereological and quantitative enzyme histochemical methods, structural and metabolic changes in thyroid gland after short-term treatment with high doses of cyclophosphamide (GY) were studied. Mice were treated with 400 mg/kg of GY every 48 h for up to 7 days(1-4 i.p. injections). To assess the effect of CY and its reversibility thyroids were studied on the day following each injection and 5-15 days after three injections. CY treatment caused significant dose-dependent structural and metabolic changes in thyroid gland which included vacuolization and destruction of thyrocyte apical cytoplasm, focal follicular wall destruction leading to the fusion of some follicles, reduction in volume fractions of epithelium with the condominant increase in volume fraction of colloid and stroma, decrease in follicular cell height, decline in both thyrocyte cytoplasmic NAD-H-diaphorase activity and vascular alkaline phosphatase activity. These changes were not completely reversible by day 15 after the last injection of CY.