STUDIES OF THE THYROID APPARATUS

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Abstract
A study of the normal course of development of the reproductive systems of [male] and [female] albino rats as a basis of determining the role of the thyroid apparatus therein. The correlated data show that: An improvement in dietary and environmental conditions brings about an earlier sexual maturity. The reproductive system of the [male] reaches maturity earlier than that of the [female]. The development of the uterus lags behind that of the ovary. The sociological implications of these findings in their relation to man are briefly indicated. There is no apparent specific relation between the growth of the reproductive system of either sex and thyroid or parathyroid activity. The growth retardation which occurs is attributable to the general metabolic disturbance which results in a condition of essential undernutrition. The ovary and the uterus follow the body weight in its changes in growth retardation after glandular removal at stated ages. The retardation is of the same order of magnitude until the practical completion of the pubertal adjustment when the surge in ovarian incretory activity determines a relatively increased sensitivity of the reproductive system. This is evidence for an ovary-thyroid and ovary-parathyroid incretory relationship, the basis of which lies in the ovary. Evidence is given that the incretory activity of the ovary conditions the response of the uterus to the glandular deficiencies when, and only when, the latter has reached the period in which it attains full functional maturity. The testis and epididymis are less sensitive to thyroid and parathyroid deficiency than is the body as a whole. Prior to the pubertal adjustment they do not follow the body weight change with varying time of gland removal. After the readjustment they show a direction of change like that of the body. The difference is attributable to a difference in the relative proportion of total growth represented by increase in cell number. The pubertal adjustment decreases this difference and hence the growth reaction of the reproductive system approximates in kind that of the body as a whole. The marked concordance of testis and epididymis response both in degree and kind is attributable to the close functional and structural association between the 2. The relations outlined are consistent with the pertinent coefficients of correlation. Evidence is presented that a factor in the greater incidence of thyroid disturbance in girls and women, as compared with boys and men, is the presence of a greater incretory relation between ovary and thyroid than exists between testis and thyroid. The relations of the growth responses of the various organs to those of the body as a whole and to each other, subsequent to gland removal at different ages, confirm the belief as to the role of the thyroid apparatus in growth developed in an earlier study.

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