Thermal trauma and burn disease, which develops from deep, large lesions, are accompanied by significant morphological and functional changes not only in the skin, but also in organs of all systems of the body, including thyroid gland. The purpose of the study was to establish a microscopic reorganization of the animal thyroid gland in dynamics after an experimental thermal trauma. Burns of the third degree were applied under ketamine anesthesia with copper plates heated in boiled water to a temperature of 97–100 °С. The affected area corresponded 18–20% of the surface of the rat’s body. Experimental study of structural changes in the vascular bed of the thyroid gland after severe thermal trauma was carried out on laboratory white male rats weighing 160–180 g. Euthanasia of rats was performed after ketamine anesthesia, by decapitation. Structural changes in the thyroid gland were studied after 1, 7, 14 and 21 days from the beginning of the experiment. Histologic sections of 5–6 µm thickness were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. For the study of the connective tissue condition and its main substance, silver impregnation was performed by using the Gordon-Sweet's method (to detect reticular and immature collagen fibers), staining with 3-colored MSB — selective coloring method for intravascular coagulation syndrome. It has been established that in the early stages after the thermal trauma (1–7 days of the experiment, the stage of shock and early toxemia) there are adaptive-compensatory changes and initial signs of destruction of the vascular bed structural components of the organ. In late terms (14–21 days of the experiment, the stages of late toxemia and septicotoxemia) significant destructive-degenerative changes of the thyroid gland arteries, veins and blood vessels of the hemocirculatory bed were detected. Therefore, a severe burn injury causes deep histological modification of the thyroid gland vessels, the degree of intensity of which depends on the time interval of the experiment, which adversely affects on the functioning of the organ and transvascular metabolic processes. In further researches it is planned to study the course of morphological changes of thyroid gland vessels during thermal trauma with combined application of corrective methods.
CONTINUOUS DARKNESS INDUCES STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THYROID GLAND OF ADULT MALE RATS