Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Thyroid Hypofunction and the Development of the Central Nervous System

Nature volume 172, pages 403–404 (1953)Cite this article

Abstract

METHYL thiouracil depresses the thyroid, and the brains of rats made cretinous with this drug grow proportionately less in length than they do in width or height1. Further results of this treatment are that myelination is retarded2 and that the pyramidal cells of the lamina ganglionaris of the sensori-motor cortex-are smaller and more closely packed than in normal animals1. The spaces between the cell bodies are occupied for the most part by neuroglia, blood vessels, axons and dendrites, and an attempt to find an explanation for the closer aggregation of the cell bodies in cretins has been made by analysing the rate of growth of each of these components.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Eayrs, J. T., and Taylor, S. H., J. Anat., 85, 350 (1951).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Barrnett, R. J., quoted in Pincus, G., and Thimann, K. V., “The Hormones”, 2 (Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1948).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Conel, J. L., “The Post-natal Development of the Human Cerebral Cortex”, 3, “The Cortex of the Three-Month Infant” (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1947).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Krieg, W. J. S., J. Comp. Neurol., 84, 221 (1946).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Asling, C. W., Walker, D. G., Simpson, M. E., Li, C. H., and Evans, H. M., Anal. Rec., 114, 49 (1952).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Windle, W. F., Psychosom. Med., 5, 155 (1944).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Eayrs, J. T., and Lishman, W. A. (unpublished observations, 1953).

  8. Means, J. H., “The Thyroid and Its Diseases” (2nd edit., Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1948).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Topper, A., Amer. J. Dis. Child., 81, 233 (1951).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University of Birmingham,

    J. T. EAYRS

Authors
  1. J. T. EAYRS
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

EAYRS, J. Thyroid Hypofunction and the Development of the Central Nervous System. Nature 172, 403–404 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/172403a0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/172403a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing