Locally injected bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells reverts the histopathological changes in the tongue of carbimazole-induced hypothyroidism of male rats

Objective

To decipher the role of locally injected bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) in the tongue of hypothyroid rats.

Design

A total 24 male Wister rats were utilized and allocated into 3 groups (n = 8). As for the control group, rats received distilled water via oral gavage. In the hypothyroid group, rats administered carbimazole 5 mg/ 250 g/ day for 6 successive weeks, for hypothyroidism induction. The BM-MSC treated hypothyroid group (BM-MSC group); hypothyroid rats received local injection of 0.5 million BM-MSCs in tongue. Six weeks after BM-MSC injection, tongue samples were processed for Hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining, Ki67-immunohistochemistry and histomorphometric analysis.

Results

The hypothyroid group revealed degenerative alterations in the lingual papillae, and apparent thinning of the inferior lingual epithelium compared to their controls. Tongues of the BM-MSC group depicted restoration of the normal tongue histology. The Ki67 immunoreaction was apparently decreased in the lingual epithelium of hypothyroid group compared to their controls, however the BM-MSC group regained Ki67 immunostaining.

Conclusion

Our data suggest that administration of BM-MSCs rescued the degenerative changes in the lingual mucosa and one of the possible underlying mechanisms could be the restoration of cellular proliferation in the lingual epithelium.