[Age-related characteristics of the blood supply to the thyroid gland (histochemical and stereological studies)].

Complex histochemical and stereological study of the thyroid gland vessels in A/He mice revealed significant age changes in the organ vascularization, and allowed assessing the dynamics of the relative value of the functioning vessels and of the transport processes activity in the capillary-thyrocyte system at different postnatal ontogenesis stages. There was a low vascularization level the first postnatal days; it increased considerably by the time of sexual maturation, and was followed by a relative stabilization. The organ vascularization decreases with aging chiefly on account of the transport processes reduction in the capillary-thyrocyte system. At the same time, the greatest age variability was characteristic of the relative volume of functioning vessels.