Late Effects of Perinatal Morphine Administration on Pituitary-Thyroidal and Gonadal Function

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Abstract
A brief period of neonatal morphine sulfate (MS) addiction in the rat results in lifelong alterations in some endocrine functions. Some changes, such as decreased growth, are probably the nonspecific result of neonatal malnutrition. Others may be the result of altered hypothalamic pituitary function. When neo-MS rats were studied as adults they tended to have larger pituitary glands containing less TSH. Their thyroid glands were larger when corrected for the smaller body weight. Testicular weights were increased and uterine weights were reduced. Adult basal pituitary and serum TSH levels were usually normal, but upon challenge with propylthiouracil, there was an initially greater goiter growth suggesting an initial abnormal increase in TSH secretion followed by a decrease in net TSH synthesis and diminished pituitary size. These late endocrine consequences of neonatal narcotic addiction in rats make it important to study the adult endocrine function of humans born of addicted mothers.

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