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Horm Metab Res 1976; 8(3): 220-226
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1093645
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© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

A Comparison of the Effects of Altered Thyroid and Parathyroid Function on Reproduction in the Rat

C. E. Hendrich , S. P. Porterfield , J.  Henderson , V. A. Galton
  • Department of Physiology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia
    School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
    Department of Physiology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
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Publication Date:
23 December 2008 (online)

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Abstract

Mild maternal hypothyroidism produced by surgical thyroidectomy resulted in significantly reduced food intake along with retarded reproductive performance in rats. Hyperthyroidism increased food consumption above the control level along with an increase in fetal resorptions which was the only parameter of reproductive performance altered by the twenty-second day of gestation.

In animals which underwent successive pregnancies, reproductive performance suffered a further decline in the second gestation due to increasing duration of the hypothyroidism. Food restriction alone failed to duplicate these adverse effects on fetal development.

Serum gonadotropins (LH and FSH) were not significantly altered by mild maternal hypothyroidism or hypoparathyroidism. The hematocrit and total blood volume of hypothyroid but not hypoparathyroid rats was significantly reduced from normal. Maternal hypoparathyroidism alone did not affect fetal development grossly.

Key words

Hypothyroid - Hyperthyroid - Parathyroid - Reproduction - Food Consumption - Fetal