Endocrine Abstracts

Due to experimental advantages such as its rapid development, transparent embryos, and accessibility for genetic analysis as well as embryonic manipulation, the zebrafish is a useful model organism for research on organogenesis. My lab has established that the basic mechanisms of thyroid development are essentially conserved on the morphological as well as on the molecular level between fish and mammals. We use zebrafish to identify as yet unknown factors involved in thyroid d...

Thyroid dysgenesis (comprising agenesis, hemiagenesis or ectopic localization) is the major cause of congenital hypothyroidism in humans. Recent experimental observations indicate that thyroid dysgenesis may be a polygenic disease with variable penetrance depending on genetic background. Also, thyroid dysgenesis might be one manifestation of syndromic malformations. The molecular mechanisms of thyroid dysgenesis in humans are largely unknown; so far genes encoding thyroid tran...

Thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine are essential for development, growth and metabolism. The prohormone thyroglobulin (Tg) is stored in high concentrations and in covalently cross-linked form within the lumen of thyroid follicles. Thyroid hormones are liberated from Tg in a regulated manner in that TSH triggers the secretion of lysosomal enzymes into the extracellular follicle lumen where they solubilize covalently cross-linked Tg and liberate thyroxine by partial...

Abstract unavailable...