THE EFFECT OF THALIDOMIDE AND ITS DERIVATIVES ON THYROXINE-INDUCED METAMORPHOSIS OF TADPOLE

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Abstract
Thalidomide and its derivatives are inhibitory to both morphological and biochemical changes occurring during thyroxine-accelerated metamorphosis of the tadpole. In general, the morphological changes are more affected than the biochemical differentiation. Thyroxine treatment increases the amount of the liver glucosamine, while simultaneous treatment with thalidomide has no effect on the content of this compound. Treatment of the tadpoles with thyroxine alone or thyroxine and thalidomide does not affect the adrenaline and noradrenaline contents of kidney and brain. Thus, the effect of thalidomide on the metamorphosis of tadpole induced by thyroxine is quite selective. These changes were brought about at a thalidomide concentration of 1 × 10−4 M, which is the lowest ever reported to be effective in biological systems.