Quantitative characteristics of calcitonin-producing cells in the thyroid and lungs of uremic rats

Uremia leads to a number of metabolic and hormonal disorders induced by renal failure with definite biological and clinical sequels. For this reason and the absence of reports on influence of CRF on calcitonin (CT)-producing cells of the thyroid glands and airways, the author decided to investigate the behavior of neuroendocrine cells in experimental uremia, taking CT-producing cells as an example. The aim of the present study was to examine the number and distribution of CT-producing cells in the thyroid glands and lungs of uremic rats. Fragments of the thyroids and lungs were collected one week after nephrectomy. Paraffin-embedded sections were stained with H+E and by silver impregnation. To identify neuroendocrine cells, immunohistochemical reaction was performed with the use of a specific antibody against calcitonin. It was revealed that the number of CT-immunoreactive cells decrease in the thyroid and considerable increase in the lungs of rats, when compared to the value in the control animals. The results can be regarded as the morphological manifestation of calcitonin-producing endocrine cells in the rat thyroid and lungs to disorders in the internal environment of the body induced by the impairment of renal parenchyma functioning.