The relationship between T3 production and energy balance in salmonids and other teleosts

Abstract

Extrathyroidal T4 5'-monodeiodination, demonstrated in several teleost species, generates T3 which binds more effectively than T4 to putative nuclear receptors and is probably the active thyroid hormone. T4 to T3 conversion is sensitive to the physiological state and provides a pivotal regulatory link between the environment and thyroid hormone action. T3 generation is enhanced in anabolic states (positive energy balance or conditions favoring somatic growth; food intake or treatment with androgens or growth hormone) and is suppressed in catabolic states (negative energy balance or conditions not favoring somatic growth; starvation, stress, or high estradiol levels associated with vitellogenesis). In fish, as in mammals, thyroidal status may be finely tuned to energy balance and through T3 production regulate energy-demanding processes, which in fish include somatic growth, development and early gonadal maturation.