Environmental Chemicals That Interfere with Thyroid Hormone Activity May Cause Brain Malformation and Retardation in the Developing Fetus / Thyroid-Info.com

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Environmental Chemicals That Interfere with Thyroid Hormone Activity May Cause Brain Malformation and Retardation in the Developing Fetus
According to Thyroid Journal

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November, 2003 -- Impaired thyroid function or thyroid hormone activity in the mother causes malformation of the fetal brain and brain damage that ranges from severe (cretinism) to a reduced IQ potential. Chemicals in the environment that can diminish thyroid hormone activity are an important risk factor for abnormal brain development, as explained in a series of reports in a special issue of Thyroid, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. ). The November 2003 issue (Volume 13, Number 11) of Thyroid is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/THY.

An international symposium entitled "Thyroid Hormone and Brain Development: Translating Molecular Mechanisms to Population Risk" serves as the framework for this special issue, in which leading researchers present new information and novel perspectives on the role of thyroid hormone in brain development and function. The articles focus on retinal development, the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls on thyroid status, congenital hypothyroidism, and interpreting thyroid function tests.

Guest editors Jerry Heindel, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Department of Health and Human Services, and R. Thomas Zoeller, Ph.D., of the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, present future research challenges, including the need to understand the role of thyroid hormone in brain development, the level at which diminished thyroid hormone function can have deleterious effects, and which environmental chemicals interact with the thyroid hormone system.

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"The realization that even mild thyroid failure can affect intellectual development has enormous implications for health care in both the developed and the developing world," says Terry F. Davies, M.D., Editor of Thyroid and Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Bone Diseases at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, NY).

Thyroid is a peer-reviewed journal published monthly in print and online. As the Official Journal of the American Thyroid Association, Thyroid publishes original papers and timely reviews that reflect the rapidly advancing changes in our understanding of thyroid physiology and pathology, from the molecular biology of the cell to clinical management of thyroid disorders. A complete table of contents and free sample issue may be viewed online at www.liebertpub.com/THY.

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