[Functional activity of human thyrocytes in diffuse toxic goiter, autoimmune thyroiditis and thyroid nodules using nucleolar silver staining].

A comparative study of the thyrocyte nucleolar organizer region (NOR) activity was performed on silver - stained thyroid gland aspiration biopsies from controls, 39 patients with Graves' disease (GD), 15 other patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), and 71 patients with nodules which underwent surgery. Thyrocyte nucleoli from unchanged thyroid gland were round and small-sized. Their number ranged from 1.34 up to 1.96 per nucleus (mean 1.61 +/- 0.07). The average number of silver (Ag) grains ranged from 3.0 to 6.9 per nucleus (mean - 5.36 +/- 0.36). Compared to the controls the patients with GD revealed thyrocyte nucleoli with increased mean number of AG - grains per nucleus (9.84 +/- 0.24). There was a close correlation between thyrocyte NOR activity, on the one hand, and the level of T3 or T4 hormones and thyroid gland size, on the other. In patients with AT the argentophilla of thyrocyte nucleoli was intermediate between that of controls and patients with GD. This group of patients revealed an increased NOR activity of thyroid gland lymphocytes. Nucleoli of malignant thyroid cells were larger and more irregular than those of benign cells. The mean number of malignant cell nucleoli (2.55 +/- 0.22) was greater than that of the control group (1.61 +/- 0.07; p < 0.05) being identical with those of follicular adenomas (2.47 +/- 0.11) and nodular goiter (2.46 +/- 0.11). The mean number of Ag-grains in the malignant cells (14.9 +/- 0.79) was higher than that in FA (7.95 +/- 0.2; p < 0.0001) and NG (8.0 +/- 0.12; p < 0.0001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)