Thyrotrophin-releasing hormone induces growth hormone secretion in adult hypothyroid fowl.

While thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulated growth hormone (GH) secretion in adult anesthetized cockerels, the GH response was blocked in anesthetized birds pretreated with thyroxine (T4) or triiodothyronine (T3). Moreover, whereas GH secretion in conscious adult birds was poorly responsive to TRH stimulation, conscious birds made hypothyroid by goitrogen pretreatment (with propylthiouracil, methimazole, or thiourea) were responsive to TRH challenge. Basal circulating GH concentrations in the goitrogen-pretreated birds were also higher than in the vehicle-injected controls. Surgical thyroidectomy similarly increased the basal GH concentration in adult birds and promoted TRH-induced GH secretion. These results demonstrate inhibitory effects of the thyroid hormones on basal and stimulated GH secretion in adult domestic fowl and suggest that GH release in adults is partly under tonic thyroidal inhibition.