EFFECTS OF HYPOTHYROIDISM ON MORPHOLOGY AND APOPTOSIS OF THE HEART OF VIRGIN AND PREGNANT RAT

CARMONA, YAMILA; MOHAMED, FABIAN; ACOSTA, MARIANO; OLIVEROS, LILIANA; GIMENEZ, MARÍA SOFÍA

San Luis

Congreso; XXX Reunión de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2012

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Thyroid hormone is essential for maintaining heart structure and function. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of hypothyroidism on cardiac morphology and apoptosis in the heart of virgin and pregnant rats. The hypothyroid state was induced by 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil (100 mg/L) in drinking water given to female Wistar rats (180-200 g body wt) starting 8 days before mating until day 21 of pregnancy or for 30 days in virgin rats. Age-matched euthyroid rats were used as controls. After the sacrifice, cardiac ventricles were used for histological examination, by haematoxylin and eosin staining, and immunohistochemically detection of Bax and Bcl-2, by streptovidin-biotin peroxidase method. Also, the mRNA expression of Bax and Bcl-2 were determined by RT-PCR, using β-actin as internal control. In the heart of hypothyroid virgin rats an increase of the size of some myocytes, and citoplasmic alterations, were observed; these changes were even greater in the heart of hypothyroid pregnant rats, compared with the respective control. Hypothyroidism did not affect Bax and Bcl-2 expressions in heart of the virgin rats, while it increased the expression of Bcl2 (p