Thyroid Hormones and Growth in Health and Disease - Review

Abstract

Thyroid hormones regulate growth by several mechanisms. In addition to their negative feedback effect on the stimulatory hormones thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and thyrotropin (TSH), thyroid hormones also regulate their receptors in various physiological and pathological conditions. Up-regulation and down-regulation of the thyroid receptors fine-tune the biological effects exerted by the thyroid hormones. Interestingly, the deiodinase enzyme system is another intrinsic regulator of thyroid physiology that adjusts the availability of thyroid hormones to the tissues, which is essential for normal growth and development. Almost all chronic diseases of childhood impair growth and development. Every disease may have a unique mechanism to halt linear growth, but reduced serum concentration or diminished local availability of thyroid hormones seems to be a common pathway. Therefore, the effects of systemic diseases on thyroid physiology must be taken into consideration in the evaluation of growth retardation in affected children.Conflict of interest:None declared.

Grape seed extract attenuates dexamethasone‐induced testicular and thyroid dysfunction in male albino rats

“…Thyroid hormones have various effects on many physiologic processes, such as development, growth, and metabolism. A thyroid hormone alteration causes certain health problems (Tarım, ). Thyroid hormones modify oxidative stress as they extremely stimulate mitochondrial oxygen consumption (Villanueva, Alva‐Sánchez, & Pacheco‐Rosado, ).…”

Assessment of Age-Related Dimensions of the Salivary and Thyroid Glands Using Three-Dimensional Computed Tomography in Children

“…In growth retardation caused by hypothyroidism, hormone replacement therapy leads to an initial catch-up growth spurt. 14) Considering these facts, it would be reasonable that the high volume growth rate of the TGs in children 0-5-years-of-age could ref lect the first growth spurt well and TG function would be more important in early childhood. By contrast, TGs showed the relatively slow growth rate in group 3 (r=0.39) and group 4 (r=0.21), which were similar with the result of Brown, et al 15) that thyroid volume increased with age during childhood and adolescence, remained fairly constant in younger adults.…”

Paediatric reference interval and biological variation trends of thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (T4) in an Asian population

“…Thyroid hormones are essential for normal growth and development of a child 1. Even subclinical thyroid dysfunction can adversely affect a growing child.…”