Thyroid hormone and cell formation in the developing rat cerebellum.

Effects of neonatal hyperthyroidism on cell formation in the developing rat cerebellum were reinvestigated. Administration at birth of excessive doses of thyroxine or triiodothyronine led to an early stimulation of cell acquisition, followed by a permanent deficit of cells in the cerebellum. The corrective effects of physiological doses of thyroxine on the troubles of the histological and biochemical development of the cerebellum in thyroid-deficient animals were also studied. As early as 6 days, cell maturation and formation were already retarded in animals treated with propylthiouracil, but, as previously reported, cell formation was prolonged and the final number of cells was normal. Administration to thyroid-deficient animals of progressively increasing doses of thyroxine, nearly equal to the amounts of hormone secreted by the thyroid gland of the developing normal rat, returned the evolution of the cerebellar wet weight and of the cerebellar DNA to normal, as well as the histological maturation of the cerebellum, even if it did not entirely correct the retardation of body growth. These results are consistent with the view that thyroid hormone early stimulates maturation of the cerebellar germinative cells and subsequently interacts with cell formation in the cerebellum, and that this action is physiological.