Thyroid state and mitochondrial population during maturation and ageing.

The authors have determined the serum thyroid hormone levels [total and free triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4)], the liver T3 content, the mitochondrial alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity (alpha-GPDH) and the number of mitochondria per cell in the rat from birth to old age. The serum levels of both thyroid hormones are modified with maturation and ageing in an essentially similar way: they increase from low values at birth to remarkably high values around 12 days, and then remain constant. The T3 liver content firstly increases (from birth to 14 days of life) and then maintains constant values. During the first two postnatal weeks, therefore, free serum T3 and liver T3 display a similar behavior. The alpha-GPDH activity of liver mitochondria was found constant from birth to old age. This might suggest either that the control of the alpha-GPDH activity is, at birth, under complex hormonal control, or that the nuclear receptors associated with the alpha-GPDH genes are precociously synthesized. The number of mitochondria per cell, at birth, is half the adult values, strongly increasing in number at weaning and remaining constant afterwards. The effect of thyroid hormones on the mitochondrial population during maturation, when low levels of serum T3 and T4 occur naturally, appears to be quite different from that induced experimentally by thyroidectomy.