Endocrine Abstracts

The first treatment for hypothyroidism introduced at the end of the 19th century was animal thyroid extract which contained both T3and T4. Because of variable potency it was widely replaced by synthetic T4 from the 1960s in high doses of 200-400 ug daily to compensate for the lack of T3. The development of TSH assays showed that a dose of T4 of 100-150 ug daily was usually adequate to restore serum TSH to normal. Because a...

Thyroid hormones have been employed for 3 decades as adjunct treatments in depression and the stabilization of manic depression, especially in women. After a brief historical review, two studies will be presented to highlight this 'drug' use of thyroid hormone.(1) A meta analysis of six studies on the use of thyroid hormone to accelerate antidepressant response. Five studies found T3 to be significantly more effective than placebo, especially in women....

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