title: Histopathologic Evaluation of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Hypothyroidism-Induced Rats.
abstract: It is speculated that thyroid hormones may be involved in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) pathogenesis. A literature scan, however, demonstrated conflicting results from studies investigating the relationship between hypothyroidism and NAFLD. Therefore, our study aims to evaluate NAFLD, from the histopathologic perspective, in hypothyroidism-induced rats. Wistar rats were divided into 2 groups: the experimental group consumed water containing methimazole 0.025% (MMI, Sigma, USA) for 12 weeks and the control group consumed tap water. At the end of week 12, serum glucose, ALT, AST, triglyceride, HDL, LDL, TSH, fT4, fT3, visfatin, and insulin assays were performed. Sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and "Oil Red-O" for histopathologic examination of the livers. In our study, we detected mild hepatosteatosis in all hypothyroidism-induced rats. There was statistically significant difference with respect to obesity between the two groups (p < 0.001). The mean fasting blood glucose was 126.25 ± 23.4 mg/dL in hypothyroidism-induced group and 102.63 ± 15.51 mg/dL in the control group, with a statistically significant difference between the groups (p = 0.032). The two groups did not differ statistically significantly with respect to visfatin levels (p > 0.05). In conclusion, we found that hypothyroidism-induced rats had mild hepatosteatosis as opposed to the control group histopathologically. Our study indicates that hypothyroidism can cause NAFLD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, 09100 Aydin, Turkey.
authors.forename: Şule
authors.initials: Ş
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, 09100 Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ünübol
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 09100 Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Serap Ünübol
authors.initials: SÜ
authors.lastname: Aypak
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 09100 Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Emrah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: İpek
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology Toxicology, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 09100 Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Serdar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aktaş
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 09100 Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gamze Sevri
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Ekren
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, 09100 Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yılmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 09100 Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Recai
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tunca
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, 09100 Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Engin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Güney