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Introduction: Miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of theconceptus before 20 weeks of gestation. Several disordersare known to contribute to recurrent miscarriage including:chromosomal anomalies; anti-cardiolipin antibodies;endocrine disorders such as poorly controlled diabetesmellitus; hyperprolactinaemia and thyroid diseases; andpelvic anatomic abnormalities. Study aimed to investigate theendocrine dysfunction in recurrent pregnancy lossMaterial and Methods: A prospective study comprising 70subjects was carried out. Fifty cases of recurrent abortionsconstituted the study group. Twenty healthy multipara femalesof same reproductive age group constituted the controlgroup. Venous blood samples were collected, and serum wasanalyzed for hormone analysis (T3, T4, TSH, LH, FSH, PRL,Testosterone) by ELISA method.Results: The mean prolactin level in cases of recurrentabortions was 19.96 ng/ml, while in controls was 11.77 ng/ml. The p value was 0.006 which was found to be statisticallyhighly significant. The mean TSH level in recurrent abortionscases was 5.81 mIU/L, while in controls was 1.95 mIU/L. Thep value was 0.004 which was found to be statistically highlysignificant.Conclusion: The patients with recurrent abortions hadsignificantly raised levels of TSH and Prolactin. Theprevalence of thyroid disorder and hyperprolactinemiawere higher in pregnant women with a history of recurrentabortion compared with healthy pregnant control population.Universal screening of pregnant females for endocrine profilecan improve the foetal outcome as well as social well-beingof females.
ABSTRACT
Subclinical hypothyroidism or mild thyroid failure is a familiar problem, with a prevalence of 3-15% in a population without any known overt thyroid disorder. The prevalence increases with age and is relatively higher among females. Subclinical hypothyroidism is defined as serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels above the upper limit of normal (4 mU/L) while the triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) enduring within the normal range. Additionally, there exists a log-linear relationship between TSH and circulating T3 and T4; hence, measurement of serum TSH becomes mandatory for diagnosing mild thyroid failure when free T3and T4 are lying within normal limits. Though, autoimmune thyroid disease is the most common cause for elevated TSH; thyroid functions can be afflicted by long-term consumption of drugs like lithium, amiodarone. The causal relationship between benzodiazepine class of drugs, particularly clonazepam and subclinical hypothyroidism has never been established clinically, yet there are some pre-clinical studies to claim the effect of benzodiazepine on thyroid functions; operating at various levels – hypothalamus, thyroid gland, peripheral cells and nuclear receptors. Henceforth, we would like to report a rare occurrence of subclinical hypothyroidism in an elderly female receiving clonazepam for her underlying psychiatric illness.
ABSTRACT
Thyroid function and creatine kinase activity was measured in 50 patients of thyroid disorders. The decreased serum levels of triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) and increased level of Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in hypothyroid patients is well established but whether there is any correlation of creatine kinase (CK) with hypothyroidism is not well established. Therefore, a study of serum CK and thyroid profile was carried out. In hypothyroid patients with decrease in serum T3, there is a significant increase in CK and findings were reversed in hyperthyroid patients. Serum creatine kinase levels thus, show an inverse relation with serum T3 and T4 levels.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of changes in post-absorptive resting metabolism (PARM) on plasma triiodothyronine (T3) levels under a prescribed diet. The subjects were 31 sedentary female college students (19.9±0.9 yrs). Subjects stayed in a metabolic ward at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition for 18 days. PARM was measured 4 times during the experimental period. Additionally, blood was collected 4 times during the experimental period, and general health care including the measurement of thyroxin by blood biochemical examination was carried out. Subjects were divided into three groups (n=26, n=4, n=1), two of which were analyzed for this study. The two groups were divided according to thyroid function: Group N (n=26) included subjects in which T3 was judged to be within the normal range during the experimental period; Group L (n=4) included subjects for whom T3 was not normal during the study period, and was judged to be under the normal range at least once. The remaining 1 subject had a T3 judged to be over the normal range.For Group N, several parameters decreased significantly during the course of the experiment: weight was 51.5±4.97 vs. 50.8±4.3 kg (p<0.01); T3 was 1.16±0.19 vs. 1.01±0.12 ng/ml (p<0.01); and PARM was 3.1±0.2 vs. 2.9±0.2 ml/min/kg (p<0.05). For Group L, several parameters also decreased significantly during the course of the experiment: weight was 53.6±4.9 vs. 52.6±4.5 kg (p<0.01); T3 was 0.94±0.15 vs. 0.75±0.07 ng/ml (p<0.01); and PARM was 2.9±0.2 vs. 2.7±0.1 ml/min/kg (p<0.05). The average PARM of Group N was significantly higher than that of Group L (7.0%). PARM during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle was significantly higher than during the menstrual phase (3.5 %), in subjects for whom the phases of the menstrual cycle were distinguishable (n=13).According to the 2005 Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for Japanese, the basal metabolic rate (BMR) is calculated at 23.6 kcal/kg body weight/day, or 3.27 ml/min/kg translated for VO<sub>2</sub> for women within the 18~29 year age group. However, the values calculated from the measurements of this research study were approximately 9.5% lower for Group N and 15.8% lower for Group L than that of the DRIs.Future investigation is required to explain the reasons for the difference in PARM between this study and that of previous ones.
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Objective To investigate the relationship between intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and en docrine parameters so as to assess the effects of the main endocrine factors on IUGR. The concentrations of growth hormone (GH), insulin, T3, T4 and TSH were measured in umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid and maternal serum. Methods The samples were collected from 23 pregnant women who were diagnosed as the full term IUGR, 42 normal full term pregnant women with normal infants' weight were taken as control. Growth hormone and insulin were mea sured by radioimmunoassay. T3, T4 and TSH were investigated by micro-radioimmunoassay. Results The concentra tions of growth hormone, insulin and T4 in umbilical cord blood were lower in IUGR than that in control group(GH 4. 63μg/L vs 7.01μg/L, insulin 10. 68μIU/ml vs 31.44μIU/ml, T4 87. 39nmol/L vs 138. 10nmol/L. P ＜0. 05, 0. 05 and 0. 05, respectively). The TSH concentration in umbilical cord blood was higher in IUGR than in control group (10. 84μmIU/L vs 5. 75μmIU/L, P ＜0. 01). The concentration of growth hormone in maternal serum and the concen tration of insulin in amniotic fluid were also lower in IUGR group than in control group(GH 1.77μg/L vs 2.74μg/L, P ＜0. 01, insulin 5. 84μIU/mi vs 15. 64μIU/ml, P ＜0. 01). Conclusion This study confirms that full term neonates with IUGR are abnormal in endocrine factors. The inadequacy of growth hormone may be one of the causes of IUGR. The relative scarcity of growth hormone and insulin seems to be a factor to compromise the fetus' metabolism. Be sides, the early hypothyrosis of infants with IUGR might protect them from unfavorable environment in the uterine.
ABSTRACT
Background: Triiodothyronine(T3) is a hormone secreted from thyroid gland which exerts a stimulating effect on metabolism. The disorder of thyroid system brings about several serious diseases like hypothymidism or hyperthyroidism. Therefore, the determination of T in blood is very important on monitoring thyroid function. Methods: Rabbit anti-T3 antibody was generated by immunization of T-BSA as an immunogen and purified hom antisera using Affi-gel protein A kit. The titer and specificity of purified antibody were characterized. To detect T3, competitive ELISA was performed using anti-T3 antibody and T3-HRP conjugate which was synthesized by glutaraldehyde method. The sensitivity and precision assay wer~e deterrnined and compared with that of RIA. Results: The titer of purified anti-T3 antibody was about 1:100 and the optimal dilution of T3- HRP conjugate was 1:1000. When the standard curve was constructed by ELISA, its sensitivity was about 0.5ng/ml. The eoefficient variations of intra- and inter-assay were 4.9~9.3% and 7.5~13.8%, respectively. The results obtained by ELISA and RIA correlated well with each other(n =50, r= 0.97), The linear regression equation was y= 1.09*0.08(P<0.01). Conclusion: We successfully developed a method for the measurement of T3 on ELISA which was based on competitive reaction between antigen(T3) and enzyme labeled antigen(T3-HRP). These results demonstrated that competitive ELISA is a convenient, fast, reproducible and aecurate method for the determinstion of T in serum and can be used as practical alternative to RIA.