Effects of Thyroid Dysfunction on Reproductive Hormones in Female Rats.

Effects of Thyroid Dysfunction on Reproductive Hormones in Female Rats. Chin J Physiol. 2018 May 10;61 Authors: Liu J, Guo M, Hu X, Weng X, Tian Y, Xu K, Heng D, Liu W, Ding Y, Yang Y, Zhang C Abstract Thyroid hormones (THs) play a critical role in the development of ovarian cells. Although the effects of THs on female reproduction are of great interest, the mechanism remains unclear. We investigated the effects of TH dysregulation on reproductive hormones in rats. Propylthiouracil (PTU) and L-thyroxine were administered to rats to induce hypo- and hyper-thyroidism, respectively, and the reproductive hormone profiles were analyzed by radioimmunoassay. Ovarian histology was evaluated with H&E staining, and gene protein level or mRNA content was analyzed by western blotting or RT-PCR. The serum levels of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in both rat models were significantly decreased on day 21, although there were no significant changes at earlier time points. There were no significant differences in luteinizing hormone (LH) or progesterone levels between the treatment and the control groups. Both PTU and L-thyroxine treatments downregulated estradiol concentrations; however, the serum testosterone level was increased only in hypothyroid rats at day 21. In addition, the expression levels of FSH receptor, cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme (P450scc), and steroidogenic acute regulatory ...
Source: The Chinese Journal of Physiology - Category: Physiology Tags: Chin J Physiol Source Type: research