Thyroid Feeding Research Articles

Session 4 | IV

Dr II. Y. Syrnev made a report on the influence of thyroid feeding in chickens.

Thyroid Perfusion Imaging as a Diagnostic Tool in Graves’ Disease – Arterial Spin Labeling Magnetic Resonance Imaging vs. Colour-Coded Doppler Ultrasound

Though increased thyroid perfusion assessed by colour-coded Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) is characteristic of Graves' disease (GD), sometimes perfusion assessment by CDUS is not possible. In these cases, arterial spin labelling (ASL), a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique allowing non-invasive thyroid perfusion quantification, may have additional diagnostic value. We aimed to evaluate the potential of ASL-MRI for assessment of increased blood perfusion in patients with GD compared to CDUS. Thyroid perfusion was measured by CDUS (volume flow rate calculated from pulsed wave Doppler signals and vessel diameter) and ASL-MRI at 1.5 T in 7 patients with GD and 10 healthy controls. In patients with GD, average perfusion in both thyroid lobes was markedly increased compared to controls. Both techniques applied for volume related perfusion as well as absolute volume flow in thyroid feeding vessels provided similar results (all p=0.0008). Using a cut-off value of 22 ml/min for the volume flow rate assessed by CDUS in the four feeding vessels allowed discrimination between patients with GD and controls in all cases. After adjusting thyroid perfusion for the differences in organ volume, both CDUS and ASL revealed also complete discrimination between health and disease. Thyroid perfusion measurement by ASL-MRI reliably discriminate GD from normal thyroid glands. In patients in whom thyroid arteries cannot be depicted by CDUS for technical or anatomical reasons, ASL-MRI may have additional diagnostic value.

Thyroid feeding: a forgotten treatment for psoriasis.

Hormonal treatments are widely used in medicine such as vitamin D analogues for psoriasis. The effects of thyroid dysfunction on the skin have been known for over a century. Researchers in the past 30 years have been pondering a possible link between thyroid function and psoriasis although, surprisingly, the first clinical trial was conducted in Scotland over 100 years ago. Sir Byrom Bramwell (1847–1931) was a physician1 who practiced in Scotland, ultimately becoming president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. His Atlas of Clinical Medicine2 published in 1896 by Constable in Edinburgh contained a remarkable case series of patients with psoriasis. It had previously been observed that patients with cretinism had a startling improvement in the quality of their skin after being fed with thyroid glands. This led Bramwell to postulate that ‘thyroid feeding’ may also be beneficial to patients with psoriasis. He reported a case series of 20 patients to whom he fed thyroid glands to treat their psoriasis. There was no standardization as some patients had mild disease while others were more severely affected. The thyroid supplementation was varied for the patients, some receiving minced raw gland, some dried extract and some liquid extract. Dosing was variable with patients treated later in the series receiving a hundred‐fold increase in dose compared with earlier subjects.

Management of the hot thyroid nodule

Solitary hyperfunctioning nodules of the thyroid gland are usually viewed as benign. They may present with autonomous euthyroidism but are of concern for potential progression to hyperthyroidism. Various methods of treatment are worthy of consideration. Forty-five patients with solitary hot thyroid nodules verified by radioisotope scintiscanning were selected for treatment. Thirty-one underwent surgery, usually partial thyroidectomy. Eight euthyroid patients received no treatment, 5 underwent therapy with radioactive iodine (RAI), and 1 received thyroid suppression treatment. The cases were assessed retrospectively. Thyroidectomy patients had no morbidity, were well, and showed 1 Hürthle cell tumor and 5 coincidental small malignancies associated with benign hot nodules, including a contralateral cancer. Untreated patients showed continuance of good health, but nodules persisted and 1 Graves' orbititis occurred. The RAI-treated patients had persistent nodularity, improved function, and 1 case of hyperparathyroidism. Thyroid feeding only caused iatrogenic toxicity and was discontinued. There are various techniques for managing the hot nodule. Nonsurgical methods may be effective, but can result in persistent nodularity and iatrogenic sequelae. Excision had no morbidity in this series and was effective in providing immediate relief of problems present and potential.

Pregnancy as a Predisposing Factor in Thyroid Neoplasia

• Thirty patients were assessed with thyroid neoplasia arising during pregnancy, predominantly in the third trimester, and manifesting preeminently with a solitary nodule. Despite appropriate thyroid treatment, 20% of the patients showed marked increase in nodular growth during pregnancy. Needle aspiration biopsy specimens were obtained for most patients but disclosed cancer in only 50% of relevant patients, although cellularity was revealed in the remaining patients. Twenty-six operations were performed, two in the second trimester and 24 post partum. There was a 43% incidence of cancer and a 37% incidence of adenoma, for a total neoplasia rate of 80%. Surgery had no major morbidity or complications; one woman who received thyroid feeding throughout her pregnancy delivered a stillborn child. Thyroid neoplasia associated with pregnancy appears to have a higher incidence of cancer, and its course may be aggravated by pregnancy. Needle biopsy and clinical assessment permit the appropriate selection of patients with thyroid cancer for surgery, which can be done safely either during the second trimester of pregnancy or post partum. (Arch Surg1986;121:1287-1290)

Pregnancy as a predisposing factor in thyroid neoplasia.

Thirty patients were assessed with thyroid neoplasia arising during pregnancy, predominantly in the third trimester, and manifesting preeminently with a solitary nodule. Despite appropriate thyroid treatment, 20% of the patients showed marked increase in nodular growth during pregnancy. Needle aspiration biopsy specimens were obtained for most patients but disclosed cancer in only 50% of relevant patients, although cellularity was revealed in the remaining patients. Twenty-six operations were performed, two in the second trimester and 24 post partum. There was a 43% incidence of cancer and a 37% incidence of adenoma, for a total neoplasia rate of 80%. Surgery had no major morbidity or complications; one woman who received thyroid feeding throughout her pregnancy delivered a stillborn child. Thyroid neoplasia associated with pregnancy appears to have a higher incidence of cancer, and its course may be aggravated by pregnancy. Needle biopsy and clinical assessment permit the appropriate selection of patients with thyroid cancer for surgery, which can be done safely either during the second trimester of pregnancy or post partum.

Neonatal hyperthyroidism and maturation of the rat hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal axis.

SummaryThe 12-day-old pups of rats fed 0.05% thyroid during gestation and lactation revealed normal levels of adrenal and serum corticosterone. However, thyroid feeding accelerated the maturation of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal axis as ether stress and ACTH resulted in both corticosterone synthesis and release in 12-day-old pups whereas steroid release was not invoked in euthyroid rats. Hyperthyroidism may shorten the stress nonresponsive period.

A way of preventing the free fatty acid concentration in the serum of rabbits from rising

A scheme of administration of nicotinic acid by mouth is suggested in order to prevent any increase in the free fatty acid concentration in the serum after intravenous injection of heparin or triiodothyronine, prolonged starvation, and thyroid feeding.

Thyroid action on behavioral-physiological effects and disposition of phenothiazines

Mice were given various durations of thyroid feeding and then injected with various doses of phenothiazines. Chlorpromazine, perphenazine, and thioridazine caused increased lethality according to duration of thyroid feeding. All three drugs shortened the survival in a sealed environment of both thyroid fed and control mice. After thyroid feeding less chlorpromazine was needed to produce excitement, convulsions, and death. In euthyroid mice all doses of chlorpromazine were hypothermic; in hyperthyroid mice small doses had little effect, larger doses were hyperthermic. After radioactive chlorpromazine was given i.p. more radioactivity was found in the brains of thyroid fed than control mice. This alone did not account for the increased responses of the former as they died with brain levels of drug that control mice survived. Thyroid-induced hyperthermia may have contributed to some findings but it could not have accounted for the shortened anoxia survival of euthyroid mice given in phenothiazine.

The effects of thyroidectomy on the wheel running activity of female rats.

The wheel running activity of female rats was observed prior to and following thyroidectomy. Thyroidectomy significantly reduced overall activity and increased the interval between activity peaks; thyroid feeding corrected these effects. Thyroid feeding did not correct the effects in ovariectomized rats. The continued administration of estradiol benzoate and progesterone increased activity in ovariectomized-thyroidectomized rats. The results suggest that the activity reduction consequent to thyroidectomy is not a direct result of thyroid removal but an indirect result mediated by altered ovarian functioning.

New Tactics for Hyperthyroidism: Sympathetic Blockade

Editorials1 May 1970New Tactics for Hyperthyroidism: Sympathetic BlockadeMATTHEW C. RIDDLE, M.D., THEODORE B. SCHWARTZ, M.D.MATTHEW C. RIDDLE, M.D.Search for more papers by this author, THEODORE B. SCHWARTZ, M.D.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-72-5-749 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptThe similarity between signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism and of excessive adrenergic activity is well known. Though it is clear that the thyroid hormones have many direct metabolic effects, the balance of experimental evidence supports the idea that increased tissue sensitivity to catecholamines also contributes much to the clinical picture of hyperthyroidism (1). The well-known studies of Brewster, Isaacs, and Osgood (2) showed that epidural blockade inhibited many, particularly cardiovascular, effects of thyroid feeding in dogs, presumably by eliminating sympathetic nervous activity. The idea of using sympatholytic agents as therapy for thyrotoxicosis in man followed naturally from this observation. Spinal...

Influence of Protamone and Dienestrol Diacetate on Bone Fragility of Caged Layers

THE effect of various thyroproteins on laying hens has been studied fairly extensively since 1923 when Crew and Huxley first attempted to demonstrate that thyroid feeding had an effect on egg production. Turner et al. (1945a, b) found that protamone, an iodinated casein with high thyroidal activity, increased egg production when added to the diet. These workers concluded that an optimum level of protamone in the feed ranged between five and ten grams per hundred pounds of feed. Additional work by Turner et al. (1946) demonstrated that protamone fed continuously at ten grams per 100 pounds of feed prevented a decrease in egg production during the summer months. Work by Singh and Shaffner (1950) indicated that thyroprotein elevated the basal metabolic rate. However, Lillie et al. (1952) questioned whether it improved egg production although the hen’s basal metabolism was increased.The use of estrogens to prevent further degeneration and relieve…

Hebdomadal thyroxine.

IN this issue of the Journal, Bernstein and Robbins report that 2.0 mg of L-thyroxine given orally as the sodium salt once a week provided satisfactory maintenance therapy for myxedema, and that this regimen effectively inhibited TSH secretion as judged by suppression of thyroid uptake of radioactive iodine in euthyroid persons. Because of the slowness with which circulating thyroxine is degraded (10 per cent per day), and because of its remarkably prolonged metabolic action (two to three months may elapse between discontinuation of thyroid feeding in myxedema and the decline in metabolic rate to the pretreatment value), it is . . .

On the mechanism of the inhibition of compensatory ovarian hypertrophy by goitrogens.

Major differences were found between the effectiveness of various goitrogens in reducing compensatory ovarian hypertrophy. These differences are not related to the hypersecretion of thyrotropin produced by these drugs, but appear to be due to peripheral toxicity effects. Methimazole exerts by far the greatest inhibitory effect upon ovarian hypertrophy. Methimazole toxicity is expressed mainly in the hypometabolic rat. Concomitant thyroid feeding reverses the effects of both methimazoJe and propylthiouracil upon adrenal, thyroid and Ovary. In athyreotic rats methimazole caused ovarian involution below the level found in the thyroidectomized rat. In rats in which rostralafferents to the medial basal hypothalamus had been surgically interrupted there was no correlation between the effects of this “deafferentation” upon compensatory ovarian enlargement and on goiter formation. A competition between thyrotropin and follicle-stimulating hormone for some common hypothalamic factor thus seems unlikely. The result...

Anti-Granuloma and Anti-Edema Properties of Corticosterone in Hyper- and Hypothyroid Rats

1. The anti-granuloma, anti-edema and thymolytic properties of corticosterone were studied in intact, thyroidectomized, hypophysectomized or adrenalectomized rats with or without 0.15% thyroid in their diets. 2. Terminal granuloma pellet weights were not much influenced by the operative procedures or by thyroid feeding despite large differences in body weight gain of the various groups. Growth of granulomas was inhibited by corticosterone to a like degree in all groups regardless of endocrine gland ablation or induction of hyperthyroidism. 3. There were no significant differences in the thymolytic effects of corticosterone in the various groups including those in which thyroid feeding alone induced thymic hypertrophy. 4. To the contrary, both the degree of paw edema formed in response to plantar injection of ovalbumin and the prevention of this edema by corticosterone, depended upon other endocrine factors. Thus no significant anti-edema effects of corticosterone were observed in thyroidectomized rats. Thyroid treatment likewise antagonized the anti-edema effects of the steroid in intact or hypophysectomized rats. 5. These data favor the view that cotton pellet granulomas form fairly independently of the hormonal environment of the animal and are inhibited specifically by glucocorticoids. On the other hand, edema formation and its inhibition by glucocorticoids are definitely influenced by the level of circulating thyroid hormone.

Effect of Administration of Thyroid Powder on Folic Acid Metabolism in Rats

The effect of feeding thyroid powder on folic acid metabolism in rats was studied by feeding folic acid at levels of 0, 0.5 and 10 ppm in the absence and presence of 3 g thyroid powder/kg of diet. Thyroid feeding did not increase the folic acid requirements for growth but did increase the excretion of formiminoglutamic acid at folic acid levels of 0 and 0.5 ppm. The increased excretion of formiminoglutamic acid by thyroid feeding at suboptimal levels of folic acid was prevented by feeding a high level of folic acid (10 ppm).

The influence of thyroid status on the effects and metabolism of pentobarbital and thiopental

In mice, thyroid feeding increases the response to intraperitoneally injected pentobarbital and thiopental, as demonstrated by increased mortality rates, prolonged sleep, and decreased activity. Pentobarbital is removed more slowly from the brain, liver, and plasma of thyroid-fed mice than from control mice. Thyroid-fed mice sleep longer from a given dose of pentobarbital. When they waken their tissue levels are the same as those found in control mice upon wakening. Thus, delayed drug removal (rather than heightened nervous system sensitivity) appears to explain increased barbiturate response in thyroid-fed mice. In mice propylthiouracil (PTU) feeding decreases the response (shorter sleep, less decrement of activity) to pentobarbital but not to thiopental. PTU feeding hastens the removal of pentobarbital from tissues. PTU-fed mice waken earlier than controls, at higher tissue levels. It is postulated that PTU induces increased activity of pentobarbital-destroying but not of thiopental-destroying enzymes. PTU may also have a direct action (decreased sensitivity to pentobarbital) on the nervous system. In rats thyroxin injection only slightly increases sleeping time and only slightly delays removal of pentobarbital from tissues after intravenous injection. Thyroidectomy grossly prolongs sleeping time and grossly delays removal of pentobarbital from tissues. Thus, in the rat, hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism have similar qualitative effects on pentobarbital response. Thyroxin-injected, thyroidectomized, and control rats sleep for different periods of time after pentobarbital injection but waken at nearly identical tissue levels. Thyroid status appears to have no effect on the sensitivity of the nervous system of the rat to pentobarbital.

Effects of propylthiouracil and thyroid feeding on the response of mice to injected convulsant barbiturate.

IN 1961, Carrier and Buday1 enumerated the substances the toxicity of which is increased in hyperthyroid animals. Among these was hexobarbital2. Prange et al.7 showed that mice fed desiccated thyroid slept longer than controls after injection of pentobarbital, while mice fed propyl-thiouracil (PTU) slept less.

Thyroid disorders--a half century of innovation.

Excerpt THE HORMONES The discovery of Gudernatsch (1) that feeding of thyroid to tadpoles caused their metamorphosis into frogs was the headline news in the thyroid field when the American College ...

HYDROCORTISONE AND/OR DESICCATED THYROID.

Twelve obese adults were starved with water as desired for 2 weeks. Desiccated thyroid was adminstered to 7 of these subjects in dosages increased by 1 grain daily to a total of 15 or 16 grains per day. Therapy with desiccated thyroid during the starvation regimen cancelled and reduced, respectively, the usual decrease in NPN and in serum CO 2 observed during starvation alone. Also such treatment with thyroid regularly raised the serum PBI and usually increased the BMR. Electrocardiographic changes consisted of tachycardia in some but not all patients treated with thyroid and occasional S-T and T wave depression during starvation with and without this hormone. The administration of desiccated thyroid in increasing dosages during treatment of obesity by total starvation increased the mean weight loss by 38 per cent above that recorded with starvation alone, viz. from 9.3 to 13.0 Kg. in 2 weeks. Potassium losses from cells wer about 14 per cent higher during the second week of starvation and thyroid administration. The addition of desiccated thyroid to the starvation regimen did not increase the proportion of the body weight losses attributable to loss of protein. Thus, negative balance of protein accounted for 8.4 per cent of the weight loss in those treated by starvation and 8.3 per cent in those treated by starvation and thyroid administration. Hence, the bulk of the weight loss during starvation and thyroid therapy stemmed, as it did during starvation alone, from losses of body fat and/or body water. Thyroid feeding during total starvation with water had no effect on the usual decrease in extracellular fluid volume observed with starvation alone but external losses of sodium and of chloride were slightly greater during the combined regimen. The combined regimen was well tolerated but it must be emphasized that this is a preliminary report of studies in selected hospitalized patients in good health. The program is not recommended for outpatient or universal trial without regard to age, cardiovascular status, etc.