Thyroid hormone economy in pregnant rats near term: a "physiological" animal model of nonthyroidal illness?

We have studied the changes in thyroid hormone economy that occur in normal pregnant rats between 17-22 days of gestation. T4 and T3 decreased in all extrathyroidal tissues studied, namely plasma, liver, kidney, lung, heart, and skeletal muscle. The exception is the concentration of T3 in cerebral cortex, which remains unchanged, possibly as a consequence of an increase in type II 5'-iodothyronine deiodinase activity. The marked decrease observed in most T4 and T3 pools was not accompanied by a commensurate increase in circulating TSH levels, which at 21 days gestation were either unchanged or actually decreased. The TSH response to TRH appeared to be prolonged. alpha-Glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity was decreased in the liver, in accordance with its thyroid hormone deficiency. Hepatic type I 5'-iodothyronine deiodinase activity, however, did not decrease, but was slightly increased. Thus, thyroid hormone economy in the pregnant rat near term shows striking similarities with several (but not all) of the changes described in patients with nonthyroidal illness and in several animal models used to study this condition. It is suggested that attenuation of the negative feedback response to the decrease in thyroid hormone pools, leading to low levels of thyroid hormones in most tissues, is the normal physiological response to situations where preservation of energy (and protein) represents a distinct adaptive advantage, as in the case of the pregnant rat and her conceptus.