Fig. 3
From: Maternal smoking and high BMI disrupt thyroid gland development
a Representative examples of mature and immature thyroid histology: (i) image of a normal thyroid morphology showing well-developed angiofollicular units with colloid-filled thyroid follicles (large arrows) and surrounding capillaries (small arrows); (ii–iv) examples for thyroid immaturity with lack of angiofollicular units as shown by unorganized arrangement of thyroid cells without follicle formation (black arrows in ii, iii, iv), the presence of numerous dilated blood vessels (white arrows in iii), and thyroid cell nests without apicobasal orientation embedded in increased stroma (large arrows in iv). Gestational ages (weeks) and scale bars (μm) are shown on the bottom left and right side of each image respectively. b Statistically significant (P < 0.05) changes in thyroid weight and histological morphology scoring proportions (immature vs mature) in relation to maternal BMI. Shaded areas in the thyroid weight plots represent 95% confidence intervals. Arrowheads indicate significant (P < 0.05) increase (▲) or decrease (▼) by gestational age