ROLE OF THYROID HORMONES IN AUTISM
2010
Role of Thyroid Hormones in Autism: Living on a university campus for many years, it is common knowledge that the thyroid, a gland hanging in the front of the neck could present a problem to many women and few men. Young adult women with protruding eyeballs and bitchy attitudes are known to have hyperthyroid or overactivity of the thyroid gland. More mature women gaining weight inexplicably and feeling cold are said to have hypothyroid or underactivity of the thyroid gland. No one ever mentioned or even alluded to the place of children in this equation. Like a trusting young man, I went about my business believing that thyroid problems are specific to adults, mostly women. One day as a third year medical student, I passed through a pediatric rotation. Out of curiosity, I found out that all healthy newborns are subjected to a battery of tests in the first 24 hours of their life. The tests performed vary from state to state. However the thyroid test is a fixture in all states. To my shock, I asked the resident in charge about the purpose of including a thyroid test for infants. She said, children with thyroid problems lag behind on mental development and may grow up with IQ (intelligent quotient) in the lowest 10th percentile. Needless to say I was astonished at the selectivity of information flow from the medical authorities. But then I was on a mission to find out more about this hidden “secret” of medicine. What I found out is likely to shock you too. The thyroid hormone is primarily a developmental hormone. Like growth hormone, its most crucial importance is early in life. Like growth hormone it is much less important in adulthood. In fact, there is ample evidence that in adults, supplementing with thyroid hormones can accelerate the cell life-cycle. Each cell in the body has a certain limit on how long it can function. After the cell exhausts its resources it undergoes a natural death. The length of time it takes for a cell to reach the end of its life is dependent on the burden it has to carry. A heavier burden is more likely to exhaust the cellular resources sooner and lead to an earlier cell death. Thyroid hormones in adults, especially triiodothyronine, will force the average cell is forced to function at a higher level while reducing its efficiency, wasting so much energy as heat eventually leading to an earlier cell death. Therefore, the effect of thyroid hormones on adults heightens short-term performance of tissues at the expense of the long-term longevity of tissues – and people. In real life terms, supplementing with thyroid hormones is the equivalent of liquidating one’s retirement assets and using them to buy a yacht at age 40. In fact the multiple levels of synergy between thyroid hormones and adrenalin point to that same theme of overutilizing future reserves today. But then who am I to judge! Having challenged the whole paradigm of thyroid problems as the mainstream looks at them, let us go back and examine the importance of thyroid hormones in a growing infant through puberty. In general, that same property of thyroid hormones increasing the metabolic rate – energy production and utilization – takes on a different goal in children. A growing infant needs to increase the metabolic rate to much higher levels than in adults. This is important for the timely accomplishment of the numerous stages of development leading up to the mature adult shape and mental acuity. During childhood while cells and tissues are attempting to reach a mature level of functionality and a stable environment, the effect of thyroid hormones will enhance that goal of maturation. Let us examine some of the major functions of thyroid hormone during infancy and childhood. Triiodothyronine, the most active thyroid hormone: 1- Stimulates growth hormone production and release; in fact the thyroid hormone is a necessary requirement without which growth hormone cannot be adequately produced. 2- Stimulates bone growth and strengthening and eventual bone maturation later after puberty 3- Stimulates neuronal growth and development; specifically, stimulates dendritic growth. The dendrites are similar to antennas the neurons [main brain and nerve cells] use to communicate with the surrounding
COPYRIGHT RAMI J SERHAN, MD 2010
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