Effects of Selected Cereal Concentrates and a Gluten-Free Diet on Ovarian, Testicular, and Thyroid Gland Morphology.

Gluten-free diet is currently recommended for people with gluten-related diseases; however some studies document their positive effects also in other diseases. Oppositely gluten is often vilified in nutrition, but serious results about their negative effects in healthy are missing, or controversial. The objective of this study is to compare the effects of different types of diets on ovarian, testicular, and thyroid morphology in an experimental mouse model. Forty-eight (n=48) laboratory mice of the BALB/c line were included in the experiment, divided into 4 groups, and maintained on special diets for 5 weeks. The control group, (6 females, 6 males) was fed a gluten-free diet. The first (E1), second (E2) and third (E3) experimental groups, (6 females, 6 males) were fed a mixture of casein hydrolysate combined with E1: pure extracted gluten in a 30 %:70 % ratio. E2: gliadins at a ratio of 30 %:70 % and E3: avenin at a ratio of 30 %:70 %. At the end of the experiment, the mice were euthanized and ovaries, testes, and thyroid glands were sampled. The samples were fixed in a 10 % formalin solution and processed into hematoxylin-eosin-stained slides. The oocyte and follicle widths of the ovaries were measured; as well as the germinal epithelium and the width of the seminiferous tubules of the testes; as well as the follicle epithelium width and the follicle width of the thyroid gland. The results showed significant differences in the width of oocytes, follicles, testicular seminiferous tubule epithelium, testicular tubules, thyroid follicle epithelium as well as differences in the width of thyroid follicles. Concentrated gluten and gliadin-based diets showed positive results compared to concentrated avenin and gluten-free diets. On the basis of animal experiment using histological methods, it seems that gluten may not be for healthy population harmful and is not recommended to be avoided outside groups of people with gluten-related disorders. Key words Celiac disease " Gluten " Non-celiac gluten sensitivity " Cereals o Nutrition.