Evaluation of Regenerative Cell Kinetics of Rat Thyroid Gland by Immunohistochemical Staining of Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen and Bromodeoxyuridine

Choi, Young Seok; Shin, See Ok; Yang, Sang Kwon

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Follicular cells of the thyroid gland has been considered an important factor affecting the thyroid gland regeneration.[(3)H]Thymidine autoradiography and immunohistochemical staining with BrdU have been commonly used and are reliable techniques for examining cell proliferation. However, these methods are not suitable for the routine analysis of cell proliferation kinetics, because they are fraught with problems such as needing fresh tissues and handling radioactive or toxic susbstances used as markers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the utility of immunohistochemical staining with a monoclonal antibody to PCNA during the healing process of a rat thyroid gland. We also compared this method with the immunohistochemical staining using a monoclonal antibody to BrdU.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We investigated the proliferative activity in regeneration of the partially resected rat thyroid tissue by using immunohistochemical stainings of PCNA and 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU). The two methods were compared.
RESULTS
Cell proliferative activity of regenerated follicular cells around the resected margin showed a continuous acceleration for 72 hours, and the PCNA-labeled cells stained the nuclei as clearly discernible as those of the BrdU-labeled cells. In addition, the immunohistochemical staining of PCNA provided reproducible and quantifiable results without the requirement of pretreatment.
CONCLUSION
Immunohistochemical staining of PCNA and BrdU may represent as a useful technique for analysis of proliferative activity during regeneration of the thyroid glands in rats.