The electron microscope comparative study of the thyroidian cell in Graves' disease and of the normal human thyroidian cell.

The comparative study of the thyroidian cell in Graves' disease and of the normal human thyroidian cell allows interesting findings about the changes of the thyroidian tissue in abnormal conditions. Histologically in Graves' disease appears a diffuse and general hyperplasic and hypertrophic process, affecting all the component parts of the thyroid cell. The thyroid cell appears to be high, columnar, with a retained nucleus/cytoplasm ratio. The cellular apical pole is covered by a thin plasmatic membrane with many microvilli. The cytoplasm has a foamy, distended aspect, established by the general hypertrophic and hyperplasic process of the cell constituents, respecting the normal arrangement of the normal cell. In electron microscopic images mitochondrias look like round and very distended formations with evident christae and a twofold membrane. The vesicles of rough endoplasmic reticulum are very closed to the mitochondrias and the Golgi apparatus represented by vesicles and bags and are situated around the nucleus. The secretion granules are abundant at the apical pole, the vesicular bodies are bigger and very numerous the nucleus has big amounts of euchromatin. This aspect is very similar to the exagerated function of the thyroid cell in Graves' disease.