Regression analysis of catecholamine utilization in discrete hypothalamic and forebrain regions of the male rat: effects of thyroidectomy.

The effects of thyroidectomy (4 weeks) on dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA) turnover rates were determined by means of regression analysis. The disappearance of catecholamine (CA) fluorescence (using quantitative histofluorimetry) after tyrosine hydroxylase inhibition (alpha-methyl-DL-p-tyrosine methyl ester) has been investigated in discrete hypothalamic and forebrain DA and NA nerve terminal systems of the male rat. A time-dependent monophasic CA fluorescence disappearance was observed in all CA nerve terminal systems of the sham-operated and thyroidectomized rats. In the thyroidectomized rat, DA turnover in the anterior nucleus accumbens and in the medial and lateral palisade zones of the median eminence (ME) was reduced while DA turnover in the posterior nucleus accumbens was increased as compared to control rats. Furthermore, NA turnover was increased in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PA) and reduced in the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus (DM) and in the 'border zone' (lateral hypothalamus). Radioimmunoassay of hormones in serum demonstrated marked increases in TSH levels and reduced concentrations of GH, prolactin, corticosterone, triiodothyronine and thyroxine. The reduced DA turnover in the external layer of the ME and the increased NA turnover in the PA may indicate an inhibitory dopaminergic mechanism in the ME and a facilitatory noradrenergic mechanism in the PA in the regulation of TSH secretion. These mechanisms seem to interact with thyroid hormones. The reduced NA turnover demonstrated in the DM and in the border zone may be related to the lowering of growth hormone levels and pulsatility caused by thyroidectomy. Finally, the DA nerve terminal systems in the anterior and posterior parts of the nucleus accumbens are differently regulated by changes in the brain-pituitary-thyroid axis.