[The age-specific changes in the histological structure of the thyroid cartilage in the men]

The objective of the present study was to elucidate the morphological and morphometric characteristics of the human thyroid cartilage during different periods of life. The thyroid cartilages were harvested from 70 cadavers of the subjects of the masculine gender who had died at the age from 1 to 93 years from the non-violent causes and had neither injuries nor signs of pathological changes in the neck organs. The microscopic studies were carried out using the standard methods for the staining of the preparations with hematoxylin and eosin. The following parameters were evaluated: the area of the cartilaginous and bone tissues, the average area of the cartilaginous and bone tissues in the field of vision, the average width of the cartilaginous plate, the thickness of the cortical plate, the number of trabeculae, the average area and length of the trabeculae, the average, minimal, and maximum area of the trabeculae, the number of the young and mature chondrocytes, the width of the zones of the young and mature cartilage and their ratio, the area of the reticular-fibrous and adipose tissues and their ratio. In addition, we also determined mean values, standard deviations, correlation coefficients, and the significance of differences (p). The following characteristics exhibited the most significant correlation with the age: the average area of the bone (r=0.69) and cartilaginous (r=-0.63) tissues, adipose (r=0.67) and reticular fibrous (r=0.61) tissues, the average length of the trabeculae (r=0.7), the number of young chondrocytes in the field of vision (r=-0.789). It is concluded that the described correlations can be helpful in the practical forensic medical activities as the additional diagnostic criteria for the determination of the human age.