Abstract
Although gastrointestinal motility(GIM) is held to be responsible for C/diarrhea in altered thyroid states, the actual mechanism is unknown. The aim of our study was to see whether C in H is due to GIM or electrolyte-water mucosal fluxes.
Adult rats were divided into 3 groups (G-1,2,3) and either untreated(G-1;n=5), treated with tapazole+T4 (G-2;n=6) or with tapazole alone (G-3;n=6) for 4wks. Intestinal transit time(ITT) was determined by noting the time required to pass carmin-red in feces. Transepithelial bidirectional fluxes of Na, Cl and HCO3 were determined across ileal mucosa mounted in Ussing chambers.
Serum T4 in G-1 (5.0±1.3μg/dl;mean±sd) and G-2 (5.2±2.2) did not differ but both differed from G-3 (2.7±0.5;p<0.001). ITT was similar in the euthyroid (G-1,2;623±38min) and hypothyroid (G-3; 615±49) groups. Net ileal Cl flux (absorption“+”; secretion“-”) did not differ between G-1 (-1.2±2.4mEq/cm2hr) and G-2 (-.2±1.6) but both differed from G-3 (+3.1±1.3; p<0.001). T4 correlated with Cl-absorption (r=-.61; p<0.025), not with Na-fluxes. Cl-absorption correlated only with HCO3, secretion (r=.65; p<0.005).
Our results suggest that the C of H is not necessarily due to GTM, rather to Na-independent Cl-absorption in exchange for HCO3.
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Tenore, A., Sandomenico, M., Fasano, A. et al. THYROKINE (T4) AND INTESTINAL FUNCTION: AN ANIMAL MODEL SYSTEM TO STUDY THE PATHOGENESIS OF CONSTIPATION (C) IN HYPOTHYROIDISM ( H ). Pediatr Res 20, 1194 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198611000-00126
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198611000-00126