Effect of Diethylstilbestrol on the Thyroid Glands of Chicks Receiving Thiouracil

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Abstract
Sixty-one chicks, one wk. old, were divided to 4 groups of 15 chicks each; Group C was a control; Group S received stilbestrol; Group T received thiouracil; and Group TS received thiouracil and stilbestrol. The drugs were given orally. Thiouracil was given every day as a 0.1 g. pill. When the body wt. was 100 g., the dose was increased 0.1 g. for every additional 100 g. of wt. Stilbestrol was given every 4th day in 0.1 mg. pills and the dose was increased 0.1 mg. for each 100 g. increase in wt. The chicks were autopsied on the 23d, 43d, and 81st days. Medication was stopped on the 43d day. The chickens in the groups receiving thiouracil and thiouracil plus stilbestrol ate less food, drank more water, had fewer and lighter feathers, and were more difficult to recognize as to sex. When the drugs were discontinued, they showed a marked increase in growth. After 43 days of medication and 38 days of recovery, the ratio of the wts. of the thyroids to the body wt. in [female] [female] was 4.47 for the T group and 2.7 for the TS group, compared with the controls as a standard. In [male] [male], the exptl. animals returned to the normal ratio of g. thyroid/kg, body wt. on the 81st day. Admn. of stilbestrol to chicks that received thiouracil for 43 days did not affect the thyroid wt./kg. body wt. After withdrawal of thiouracil, with or without stilbestrol, the [male] [male] recovered completely. In the [female] [female] there was a lag in the recovery from thiouracil, and those that had received stilbestrol in addition showed a slightly greater recovery than those that had not.