Abstract
Purpose — to investigate the effect of sulfuric amino acid methionine on morphological changes of thyroid gland in adult rats. Material and methods. The study was conducted on 24 male Wistar rats at the age of 15 months. Experimental rats orally received methionine daily at a dose of 250 mg/kg body weight. Duration of experiment was 21 days. From thyroid tissue preparations were made according to standard histological methods. Gland morphometry was performed on digital images using a computer program Image J. Results. It was revealed that the 21 daily influence of methionine to adult rats increased the relative area parenchyma gland, decrease follicles and colloid sizes, growth follicular-colloidal index and reduce colloid accumulation index, increase the number of resorption vacuoles in the colloid follicles, amount interfollicular islets, decrease the relative area of connective tissue in the gland. Conclusions. Introduction of methionine (at a dose of 250 mg/kg) has morphological signs of growth of the thyroid gland synthetic activity. This may have a practical interest in using methionine to enhance the function of the gland.