Fig. 1.

Alterations of nuclear size and shape during treatment of thyroid sections. a DAPI-stained 4-μm thyroid sections treated with xylene only (x), xylene + microwaving (xm), xylene + microwaving + protease (xmp) and as for FISH (xmpf), showing the positions of epithelial follicular cells (arrow) and parafollicular C cells (double-headed arrow). Bars = 10 μm; b box plots of nuclear diameter (micrometres) in x- or y-dimensions and nuclear shape (x/y) for C cells in sections treated with xylene only (x), xylene + microwaving (xm) or xylene + microwaving + protease (xmp). The boxed areas show the 25–75 percentiles and the medians are indicated by horizontal lines through these boxed areas. Statistically significant changes in nuclear size or shape between different treatments are indicated by asterisks (*p < 0.05 and >0.01; **p ≤ 0.01 and >0.001; ***p < 0.001). n = 10–20; c as in b, but for epithelial cells and including analysis of these cells as for FISH (xmpf). n = 22