Endocrine Abstracts

Thyroid hormone is required for normal brain development from early fetal life onwards. Maternal transfer of thyroxine (T4) constitutes a major fraction of fetal serum T4 in the first half of pregnancy. Early in gestation thyroid hormone receptors with T3 bound to it have been found in different human tissues, while type II deiodinase activity is present in human cortex.In case of fetal and maternal hypothyroidism, severe mental retardation, combined wit...