In vivo and in vitro effects of adrenaline on conversion of thyroxine to triiodothyronine and to reverse-triiodothyronine in dog liver and heart

PTSD and stress sensitisation: a tale of brain and body Part 1: human studies

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic, debilitating psychiatric disorder that can follow exposure to extreme stressful experiences. It is characterised by hyperarousal and increased startle responses, re-experiencing of the traumatic event, withdrawal or avoidance behaviour and emotional numbing. The focus of this review is on aspects that have received less attention. PTSD develops only in a substantial minority of people exposed to traumatic stress, and possible individual traits that increase vulnerability are discussed. An overview is given of the wide variety of physiological disturbances that accompany PTSD and may contribute to disability, including neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and immune function and pain sensitivity. Brain imaging and pharmacological studies have generated some insight into the circuitry that may be involved in the generation of PTSD symptoms. Major limitations of human studies so far are the issue of causality and our lack of understanding of the underlying molecular substrates in the brain, which are easier to address in relevant animal models and will be discussed in a companion paper.

Enhanced non-esterified fatty acids and corticosterone in blood plasma of chickens treated with insulin are significantly depleted by reverse T: minor changes in hypoglycaemia

Previously, it has been observed that dexamethasone or adrenaline-induced hyperlipaemia in blood of chicken was significantly reduced after administration of reverse triiodothyronine (rT3). The present experiment was performed on chicken to determine the altered circulating non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) induced by physiologically enhanced endogenous corticosterone and catecholamines may also be influenced by rT3. Rise of both hormones were induced by insulin administration. Changes in circulating glucose, corticosterone and catecholamines were additionally measured. Following insulin injection blood glucose fell on the average by 32.7% below control at 2 h of the experiment. Additional treatment with rT3 (rT3 + insulin group) gradually attenuated this decrease and at 4 and 6 h of the experiment it was 17.1% and 12.9% below control, respectively, suggesting on slight inhibition by rT3 of insulin-stimulated glucose utilization. Exposure to insulin significantly increased NEFA levels to about 670% above control group. Additional treatment with rT3 reduced this increase to 309% of control, suggesting inhibition of lipolysis by rT3. Similar alterations were observed in plasma corticosterone levels. Insulin treatment peaked the corticosterone levels maximally by 507.6% above control. Additional treatment with rT3 abolished this rise in the averages to 194.2% above control, possibly by interaction of rT3 with hypothalamo-adrenal axis. Insulin injection increased plasma catecholamines on the average by 21.5% and 53.4% for adrenaline and noradrenaline respectively. Supplementary treatment with rT3 intensified this rise by 55.6% and 71.6% respectively. The obtained results suggest on inhibitory effect of rT3 on hypoglycaemia, hyperlipaemia and plasma corticosterone concentrations in chickens treated with insulin. Contrary to this, rT3 enhanced the rise of plasma catecholamines due to insulin treatment. The obtained data favour the assumption that hypometabolic properties of rT3 depends mainly upon reduced supply of NEFA as a result of restricted lipolysis and to a lesser extent upon the supply of glucose.

Reverse 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine suppresses increase in free fatty acids in chickens elicited by dexamethasone or adrenaline

Reverse triiodothyronine (rT3) displays hypometabolic properties and antagonizes the hypermetabolic effect of 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3). Previous experiments revealed that exogenous rT3 enhanced free fatty acids (FFA) in heat-stressed pullets and in chickens infected with lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli. To gain more data concerning the action of rT3, its effect on lipaemia produced by two main stress hormones: glucocorticoids and catecholamines, has been investigated. Synthetic glucocorticoid [dexamethasone (Dex)] and adrenaline (Adr) were used in two experiments. The experiments differed in duration, i.e. 24 h (Dex) or 150 min (Adr), and frequency of rT3 injections, i.e. two (Dex) or single (Adr) injections. The doses of hormones were as follows: rT3: 14 microg 100 g body weight/ injection (subcutaneously): Dex: 5 mg/animal (subcutaneously) and Adr: 1 mg/animal (intramuscularly). Maximal increases in FFA of 230.5 and 227.5% were noted after 1.5 and 3 h, respectively, in birds treated with Dex. Reverse T3 almost completely suppressed the rise of plasma FFA elicited by Dex. The increase in Dex + rT3-treated fowl was only 30.4% (not significant in comparison to control). Adr increased FFA by a maximum of 89.1 % and treatment with rT3 (Adr + rT3 group) suppressed this FFA increase to 42.5%. The data obtained demonstrate that rT3 suppresses lipaemia induced by an exogenous glucocorticoid and adrenaline. This suppression was more pronounced in glucocorticoid-treated birds, where Dex produced a higher lipolytic response than Adr.

Alterations in thyroid hormones, cortisol, and catecholamine concentration in patients after orthopedic surgery

Changes in serum and plasma concentrations of thyroid hormones, cortisol, and catecholamines were measured simultaneously in 16 patients undergoing major elective orthopedic surgery. Blood samples were collected preoperatively and at 2, 6, 24, 48, 96, and 168 hr after surgery. A significant decrease in TT3 and FT3 and an increase in rT3 were noted after surgery. TT4 started to decrease 48 hr after surgery whereas FT4 showed no significant change over the same period of time. The concentration of TSH fell progressively after surgery reaching a nadir by Day 7. The concentrations of cortisol were increased markedly throughout the course after surgery. Adrenaline and noradrenaline levels were increased markedly during the first 24 hr postsurgery. Both the thyroglobulin and TBG together with albumin concentration values were decreased after surgery as compared to preoperative values. It is concluded that the changes in thyroid hormone levels after major elective orthopedic surgery seem to be independent of changes in plasma catecholamines and/or cortisol concentrations.

Effect of adrenaline on biliary excretion of triiodothyronines in rats mediated by alpha 1-adrenoceptors and related to the inhibition of 5'-monodeiodination in liver

Biliary excretion of thyroxine (T4),3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3),3,3,5'-triiodothyronine (rT3) and diiodothyronines (3,3'-T2,3,5-T2 and 3',5'-T2) was estimated with the aid of radioimmunoassay in 3-4 subsequent 2-h samples of bile obtained from pentobarbital anesthetized rats through the tubing inserted in bile duct. The excretion of T3 was significantly decreased during 4-h infusion of 2400 ng/kg/min adrenaline in normal rats or during 6-h infusion of the latter dose in the animals preinjected with 2 micrograms T4. Moreover, the excretion of rT3 was significantly increased after the infusion of 1200 and 2400 ng/kg/min adrenaline. Such increase after 1200 and 2400 ng/kg/min adrenaline was prevented by a single dose of 10 mg/kg phentolamine (alpha 1-2-antagonist) and that after 2400 ng/kg/min adrenaline also by 2.5 mg/kg prazosin (alpha 1-antagonist) injected at the beginning of the infusion, but not by 6 mg/kg yohimbine (alpha 2-antagonist) injected every 60 min during 4-h infusion. In addition, increased rT3 excretion was found during the infusion of alpha 1-agonist methoxamine (1.5 mg/kg/4 h), while no such effect of the infusion of alpha 2-agonist azepexol (10 mg/kg/4 h) was observed. It may be suggested that the effect of adrenaline was mediated predominantly by alpha 1-adrenoceptors and that the observed changes in biliary excretion of T3 and rT3 were related to the inhibition of 5'-monodeiodination in the liver.

Decrease of rat-liver-T4-5'-deiodinase activity during chronical isoprenaline beta-action in vivo

Pure adrenergic beta-action, brought about by long-term adrenaline + regitine application in rats, was able to increase liver T4-5'-deiodinase activity for 8 h (Nauman et al. 1984a). Long-term isoprenaline application without alpha-blocking yielded contrary results. One of the compensatory mechanism to be probably blamed could have been the very high endogenous adrenaline-levels (Porta et al. 1985). Simultaneous treatment with isoprenaline and alpha-methyltyrosinemethylester did not settle the problem since even then deiodinase activity was still drastically decreased. Two more components have been found which could very well be the reason for that "paradox beta-action" in vivo, namely very low glucose and insulin levels, both of which are known to influence deiodinase activity. In vivo--contrary to in vitro--it is seemingly not possible that catecholaminergic beta-action could increase the peripheral production of T3 unless general alpha-blocking took place.

Serum thyroid hormones and tissue 5'-monodeiodinase activity in acutely thyroidectomized newborn lambs

After either total thyroidectomy or sham operation in full-term fetal sheep, fetuses were delivered and serial blood samples were obtained for measurements of thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), and catecholamines. Despite comparable serum T4 values (T4 means +/- SE, sham 7.1 +/- 0.6 micrograms/dl, thyroidectomized 6.8 +/- 0.7 micrograms/dl at 60 min after birth), serum T3 values were lower in the thyroidectomized animals (T3 means +/- SE, thyroidectomized 39 +/- 4.8 ng/dl, sham 153 +/- 20.1 ng/dl at 60 min after birth). Four hours after birth, the animals were killed with an intravenous overdose of barbiturate. Brain, thyroid, liver, kidney, and brown adipose tissues were dissected and analyzed for thyroxine 5'-monodeiodinase (5'-MDI) activity in vitro. 5'-MDI activity was comparable in all tissues from sham-operated and thyroidectomized lambs. Plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine concentrations, mean arterial pressure, mean pulse, rectal temperature, and arterial blood gas values were similar in the two groups of animals. These data support the hypothesis that the thyroid gland is the major source of T3 for the T3 surge in the immediate newborn period. They also indicate that the neonatal T3 surge has limited immediate metabolic significance in euthyroid newborns.

The thyroid function in young men during prolonged exercise and the effect of energy and sleep deprivation

Thyroid function has been investigated in 24 young military cadets participating in a 5 d ranger training course with heavy physical exercise, calorie deficiency and deprivation of sleep. The cadets were divided into three groups, each differing in the amount of sleep and food consumption. The serum levels of thyroid hormones (T4, FT4, T3, rT3) and TBG showed a biphasic pattern during the course. Initially there was an increased secretion concomitant with an increased deiodination of T4 to T3 and rT3 mainly due to physical exercise. When the activities lasted for several days without sufficient food supply the thyroid secretion decreased simultaneously with an alteration of the peripheral conversion of T4 to rT3 instead of T3. A significant correlation was found between the changes in total and free thyroxine (r = 0.9) and between the increase in rT3 and decrease in T3 (r = 0.6). TSH decreased during the first day of activities and remained low throughout the course. The TSH response to TRH stimulation was greatly reduced during the course due to physical exercise and calorie deficiency. The present investigation demonstrates that the thyroid function is strongly affected by prolonged physical exercise and a negative energy balance, whereas sleep deprivation does not have any significant influence. The results indicate that the alteration observed is not regulated just by the hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid-axis alone.