Thyroid hormone action on rat calvarial sutures.

To clarify the effect of thyroid hormone on the calvarial sutures, the morphology, histology, and bone mineral density were analyzed in thyroid hormone-injected rats. A total of 80 female Wistar rats at the age of 10 days were divided into 2 groups; the triiodothyronine (T3)-treated rats (n = 40, T3 100 micrograms/kg body weight/day) were maintained under the same conditions as controls (n = 40, saline-vehicle only), and both were sacrificed at 50, 80, and 200 experimental days, respectively. T3-treated animals showed smaller values of lambda-asterion and pterion-bregma distances at the various periods of examination, resulting in smaller sizes in right-left direction of the skull. The sagittal suture distance in the skull specimens observed by Goldner's staining (fibrous tissue content) appeared smaller and the osseous margin widths greatly increased in the T3-treated rats. Fluorescent microscopy revealed that the tetracycline-calcein double labelings were not interrupted from the periosteal to the endosteal areas in any specimens indicating the scantiness of osteoclastic activity in the suture areas. Mineral apposition rates at the osseous edges of the suture were significantly increased in the T3-treated rats (p < 0.01 at the age of 90 days). The distance between the second labels and the distance between the first labels were significantly larger in the T3-treated rats. Bone mineral density (BMD) measurement showed that the T3 administration decreased only the calvarial BMD at the age of 210 days (p < 0.01), but did not decrease lumbar or femur BMD. This experiment demonstrated clear evidence of excess thyroid hormone action on the early narrowing of the sagittal suture in infantile hyperthyroid rats, probably due to the enhanced osteogenic activity caused by the hormone.