EN
Ślebodziński A.B.: Hyperiodothyroninaemia of neonates, its significance for thermogenesis. Acta physiol, pol., 1988, 39(5-6): 364-379. Danowski et al. (1951) were probably the first who showed an increase of PBI in infants shortly after birth. Later a number of investigators presented further evidence on the increased thyroid gland function in newborns. This condition named "neonatal thyroid hyperactivity" [Fisher and Oddie, 1964] was described also in animals. The available data indicate that all the newborn mammals till now studied, independently of the maturation stage of development they reach at birth, display some features of thyroid hyperactivity, but in some it does not lead to hyperiodothyroninaemia. Interspecies differences coincide well with significance of the thyroid hormones for neonatal thermogenesis. There are few sequential studies of the three principal iodothyronines: T₄ , T₃ and rT₃ available at present. The most comprehensive data concern infants, newborn lambs and pigs. Immediately after birth, there is a sudden rise in serum thyroid hormone concentrations, with some species differences Telated to the degree of the increase and to the iodothyronines involved. The course of the postnatal hyperiodothyroninaemia is dependent on the maturation level reached at ibir.th, food intake, and cooling relative to extrauterine environment. At least five main factors contribute to the immediate postnatal hyper- iodothyroninaemia-: 1) abrupt depletion of the preformed fetal hormonal iodine stores; 2) preferential T₃ secretion; 3) increase in the T₄ to T₃ mo- nodeiodihation in the peripheral tissues; 4) a release of thyroid hormone content from peripheral reservoirs to plasma, and 5) action of other hor- monei(s) concomitantly released at birth. From the point of view of the thermal adaptability, the newborn mammals fall into twodistinct groups: first, in which immediately after birth the metabolic rate decreases, and second, in which the metabolic rate increases, after cooMng. Our understanding of the role .and significance of hormonal factors involved in mechanisms of the postnatal thermogenesis is incomplete. However, .some similaritiesdn adaptation to cold in adults and in newborns seem to be relevant. Cold adaptation is accomplished by development of nonshivering thermogenesis (NST) depending on NA. The presence of brown adipose tissue (BAT) is essential for NA thermogenic action. According to the common opinion, based on data from laboratory animals and human baby, non-shivering thermogenesis, but not shivering, predominates in newborns. However, data from domestic animals indicate that shivering thermogenesis may toe of comparable or greater thermogenic capacity than NST at birth. Besides, there are some newborns which have little or no BAT and associated NST. Our findings, originated in the pigs, on the postnatal hyperiodothyroninaemia and thermogenic action of TH led as to the conclusion that TH might be a principal hormonal mediator of the metabolic adaptation in some species [Ślebodziński, 1965; 1979]. On the basis of available comparative studies regarding the significance of NA, A as well as TH, a hypothesis was forwarded [Ślebodziński, ,1971; 1975] that the newborn mammals can be divided into two major classes or types: 1) noradrenaline type of newborn, in which NA is the main hormonal factor involved in the process of thermostability after birth; 2) thyroxine type of newborn, in which T₄ with a synergistic action of A are major hormones involved in the process leading to thermostability after birth.