The effect of transgenesis on rabbit thyroid tissue structure.

This study was aimed to compare structures of the thyroid tissue of transgenic rabbits expressing the human clotting factor VIII under the murine whey acidic protein promoter (mWAP-hFVIII rabbits) with the non-transgenic controls. Thyroid tissue samples were taken from transgenic and non-transgenic New Zealand White rabbits, examined by optical microscopy and analysed morphometrically. The analysis revealed no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the relative volume of basic thyroid structures. Furthermore, no significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed when measuring the epithelial height and nuclear diameter of the follicular cells. Altogether, this study demonstrates no negative effect of the mWAP-hFVIII transgenesis on the rabbit thyroid gland structure.