EBM Email Content Delivery
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Free
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Free
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sajdel-Sulkowska, E. M.
Right arrow Articles by Wade, C. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sajdel-Sulkowska, E. M.
Right arrow Articles by Wade, C. E.
Experimental Biology and Medicine 226:790-798 (2001)
© 2001 Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Effects of Hypergravity Exposure on the Developing Central Nervous System: Possible Involvement of Thyroid Hormone

Elizabeth M. Sajdel-Sulkowska*,{dagger},1, Gui-Hua Li{dagger}, April E. Ronca{ddagger}, Lisa A. Baer§, Gregory M. Sulkowski||, Noriyuki Koibuchi and Charles E. Wade{ddagger}

* Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and
{dagger} Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115;
{ddagger} Life Sciences Division, NASA/Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035;
§ Lockheed Martin Engineering and Sciences, Moffett Field, California 94035;
|| Program in Cognitive Neuroscience, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138;
Department of Physiology and CREST, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma 371–8511,Japan

The present study examined the effects of hypergravity exposure on the developing brain and specifically explored the possibility that these effects are mediated by altered thyroid status. Thirty-four timed-pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to continuous centrifugation at 1.5 G (HG) from gestational Day 11 until one of three key developmental points: postnatal Day (P) 6, P15, or P21 (10 pups/dam: 5 males/5 females). During the 32-day centrifugation, stationary controls (SC, n = 25 dams) were housed in the same room as HG animals. Neonatal body, forebrain, and cerebellum mass and neonatal and maternal thyroid status were assessed at each time point. The body mass of centrifuged neonates was comparatively lower at each time point. The mass of the forebrain and the mass of the cerebellum were maximally reduced in hypergravity-exposed neonates at P6 by 15.9% and 25.6%, respectively. Analysis of neonatal plasma suggested a transient hypothyroid status, as indicated by increased thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level (38.6%) at P6, while maternal plasma TSH levels were maximally elevated at P15 (38.9%). Neither neonatal nor maternal plasma TH levels were altered, suggesting a moderate hypothyroid condition. Thus, continuous exposure of the developing rats to hypergravity during the embryonic and neonatal periods has a highly significant effect on the developing forebrain and cerebellum and neonatal thyroid status (P < 0.05, Bonferroni corrected). These data are consistent with the hypothesized role of the thyroid hormone in mediating the effect of hypergravity in the developing central nervous system and begin to define the role of TH in the overall response of the developing organism to altered gravity.

Key Words: hypergravity • rat • cerebellum • development • thyroid hormone






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2001 by the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine.