Thyroid hormones are important for the development of the brain, and when the transporters of these hormones are not functioning properly, the consequences for the development of the cerebellum are very serious, a study by researchers from University of Leuven, Belgium and King’s College London has found.
Thyroid hormones control our everyday metabolism, but they’re already crucial before birth. In fact, they are essential for the development of the organs, including the brain.
Professor Veerle Darras from the Lab of Comparative Endocrinology at University of Leuven (KU Leuven), explains:
“These hormones ensure that different cell types originate in the brain at the right moment, move to the right place, and make the right connections. Until the thyroid is fully developed, a fetus depends on the mother’s hormones. If the mother-to-be doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones, this has a negative impact on the brain development of the fetus from a very early stage.”
Allan-Herndon-Dudley Syndrome
Determining whether the thyroid is properly functioning is typically done by measuring the amount of hormones in the blood. Unfortunately, this is not always a good indicator.
“This proved to be the case with the rare Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome (AHDS), a hereditary condition of the nervous system that only affects boys. These children suffer from severe mental retardation and locomotor deficits. Doctors looked for possible thyroid hormone deficiencies but, surprisingly, the level of hormones in the blood was abnormally high. The problem turned out to be in the transporters that bring the hormones from the blood to the inside of the cell. Due to a genetic mutation an important transporter – MCT8 – is deactivated in patients with AHDS.”
To find out more about this mutation, Professor Darras’s team examined what happens in a chicken embryo when this transporter is deactivated in a part of the little brain, PhD student Pieter Vancamp says:
“The little brain is important for locomotion. A thyroid hormone deficiency impairs its development, but the role of the transporters was not yet known. In our study, we noticed relatively quickly that some important proteins – necessary for the development of brain cells – were not produced in sufficient amounts in the part of the brain with no active transporter. In a later stage, we noticed that the Purkinje cells – nerve cells located in the cortex of the little brain – have less dendritic branches. Therefore, brain cell signalling goes haywire, and problems arise in other cells as well.”
The results show that thyroid hormones are essential for embryonic development right from the start.
“The earlier things go wrong, the harder it is to repair the damage after birth. Newborns are always screened for thyroid problems with the heel prick, but it’s better to test the mothers-to-be as early as possible. Unfortunately, this does not yet happen in all hospitals.”
For the Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome, the study brings up questions about potential prenatal treatments with variants of thyroid hormones that are able to enter the cell without the transporter. This is still an experimental treatment, however, that is only being tested after birth.
Reference:
- J. Delbaere et al. MCT8 deficiency in Purkinje cells disrupts embryonic chicken cerebellar development. Journal of Endocrinology (2017). DOI: 10.1530/JOE-16-0323
Image: Cross-section of the folded cerebellar cortex of a chicken embryo, with three layers of cells. The middle layer consists of Purkinje cells with their characteristic dendritic branches. This image shows healthy Purkinje cells, highlighted in bright colours. With a deactivated MCT8 transporter, the Purkinje cells would have much smaller dendritic branches. Credit: KU Leuven Lab of Comparative Endocrinology, Joke Delbaere & Pieter Vancamp
Last Updated on November 9, 2023