The thyroid gland of the woodchuck, Marmota monax: a morphological study of seasonal variations in the follicular cells. 1977

P P Krupp, and R A Young, and R Frink

The morphology of the thyroid gland of the woodchuck, Marmota monax, was studied during the four seasons of the year. In the spring the thyroid is extremely heterogenous in appearance. Some follicular cells appear quite active. They contain a well defined Golgi apparatus, abundant large colloid droplets and pseudopodia but few, if any, apical vesicles. Other less active cells have poorly defined rough surfaced endoplasmic reticulum and lack a well developed Golgi apparatus. They do not contain apical vesicles or colloid droplets. Summer thyroids have uniformly small follicles which are lined by high cuboidal cells containing numerous mitochondria, apical vesicles, abundant rough surfaced endoplasmic reticulum, and lipid droplets but few colloid droplets. There is extensive lateral and basal infolding of the cytoplasmic membranes in these cells. In the fall and winter the follicles are larger than in the summer and contain more colloid. Numerous heterogeneous dense bodies appear in the cytoplasm of the follicular cells in the fall and increase in number in the winter when there is an obvious sparsity of such glycoprotein synthetic organelles as Golgi apparatus and rough surfaced endoplasmic reticulum. These morphologic changes are compared with previous studies of thyroid structure and function in other animals and are correlated with the seasonal physiologic activities of the woodchuck.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D008392 Marmota A genus of Sciuridae consisting of 14 species. They are shortlegged, burrowing rodents which hibernate in winter. Woodchucks,Marmots,Marmot,Marmotas,Woodchuck
D005260 Female Females
D006605 Hibernation The dormant state in which some warm-blooded animal species pass the winter. It is characterized by narcosis and by sharp reduction in body temperature and metabolic activity and by a depression of vital signs. Hibernation, Artificial,Induced Hibernation,Artificial Hibernation,Artificial Hibernations,Hibernation, Induced,Hibernations,Induced Hibernations
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012377 Rodentia A mammalian order which consists of 29 families and many genera. Beavers,Capybaras,Castor Beaver,Dipodidae,Hydrochaeris,Jerboas,Rodents,Beaver,Capybara,Hydrochaeri,Jerboa,Rodent,Rodentias
D012621 Seasons Divisions of the year according to some regularly recurrent phenomena usually astronomical or climatic. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed) Seasonal Variation,Season,Seasonal Variations,Variation, Seasonal,Variations, Seasonal
D013961 Thyroid Gland A highly vascularized endocrine gland consisting of two lobes joined by a thin band of tissue with one lobe on each side of the TRACHEA. It secretes THYROID HORMONES from the follicular cells and CALCITONIN from the parafollicular cells thereby regulating METABOLISM and CALCIUM level in blood, respectively. Thyroid,Gland, Thyroid,Glands, Thyroid,Thyroid Glands,Thyroids

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