Skip to main content
  • Published:

Chemical and Morphological Studies of Thyroid Function in Lactating Cattle

Summary

Autopsy studies of the thyroid gland in lactating cattle were combined with chemical tests of thyroid function, i.e. protein-bound iodine (PBI) in serum, and uptake by the erythrocytes in vitro of I131-labelled L-triiodothyronine (EU). The study was made on 255 cows from 5 different slaughterhouses in Sweden. To permit a comparison with the chemical results, the thyroids were classified morphologically as normal, slightly changed, and moderately to greatly changed, respectively. The term goitre was used to denote those glands whose weight exceeded 54 g in SRB cows, 51 g in SLB cows, and 44 g in SKB cows.

Examination of glands from cows in the Sundsvall region showed 85 % to be the site of histological changes, which were denoted as moderate to marked in 72 % of them. The corresponding figures for the Östersund region were 68 and 28 %, respectively. In the other sampling regions, the figures ranged from 40—52 % and from 21—28 % respectively.

Totally 12 thyroids were found to be goitrous; 5 of them derived from the Sundsvall region, and 3 from the Östersund region. All but 2 of the cows with goitre were chemically euthyroid.

Cows from the Sävsjö, Östersund and Halmstad regions had significantly lower EU values than cows from the Uppsala and Sundsvall regions. No corresponding difference was present between the various regions with respect to PBI. Cows with morphologically changed glands had higher PBI values than cows with morphologically normal glands. There was a poor correlation between the nature of the histological change and the results of the chemical analyses.

References

  • Baker, S. B., M. J. Humphrey & M. H. Soley: The clinical determination of protein-bound iodine. J. clin. Invest. 1951, 30, 55–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, H. D.: In, Biology of Radioiodine. ed. L. K. Bustad. Pergamon Press, Oxford 1964, 3–9.

  • Bustad, L. K., D. H. Wood, E. E. Elefson, H. A. Ragan & R. O. McClellan: In, Biology of Radioiodine. ed. L. K. Bustad. Pergamon Press, Oxford 1964, 151–154.

  • Clements, F. W.: Health significance of endemic goitre and related conditions. In, Endemic Goitre, WHO Monograph series no. 44, Genève 1960, 235–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, L.& B. Gustafsson: Hypofunktion av thyroidea och nedsatt fertilitet hos kor. Svensk Vet.-Tidn. 1965, 17, 458–460.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heimann, P.: Atoxisk struma. Farmacoterapi 1965, 11, 57–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoflund, S.: Om strumafrekvensen hos nötkreatur och får i v årt land. Medlemsbl. Sverig. Vet.-Förb. 1963, 15, 29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Höjer, J. A.: Kropfstudien. Svenska Läk.-Sällsk. Handl. 1931, 57, 1–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnsson, S.: Endemisk struma-frekvens i Medelpad. Svenska Läk.-Tidn. 1965, 62, 2049–2056.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kung L. Medicinalstyreisen: Medicinalväsendet. Sämling av författnin-gar och cirkulär mm. no. 11, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obel, A.-L., K. Sjöbergéc, H. Sandstedt: Om medfödd struma hos kalv i Sverige. Nord. Vet.-Med. 1950, 2, 491–507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roche, J. & S. Lissitzky: Etiology of endemic goitre. In Endemic Goitre. WHO Monograph series no. 44, Geneve 1960, 351–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorell, C. B.: In vitro erythrocyte uptake and serum protein binding of I131-labelled L-3,5,3’-triiodothyronine as thyroid function tests in cattle. Acta vet. scand. 1965, 6, Suppl. 4, 1–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wahlberg, J.: Zur Kenntnis der normalen und pathologischen Histo-physiologie des menschlichen Schilddrüsenepithels. Arb. path. Inst. Univ. Helsingfors. G. Fischer, Jena 1933, 7, 197–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y.: In vitro studies of thyroid function with erythrocyte uptake of I131-labelled triiodothyronine. Acta endocr. (Kbh.) 1963, 42, Suppl. 76, 1–44.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nyberg, JA., Nilsson, P.O., Crabo, B. et al. Chemical and Morphological Studies of Thyroid Function in Lactating Cattle. Acta Vet Scand 9, 151–167 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03547880

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03547880