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Congenital Hypothyroidism

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Congenital Hypothyroidism
Congenital hypothyroidism is caused due to the lack of adequate thyroid hormone at birth and can lead to multiple flaws in bodily development including cochlear morphology. Synthesis of thyroid hormone is mediated by many biological processes and as such there are many points of failure. Proper development of the Cochlear function and morphology is dependant on the normal secretion and reception of thyroid hormone through G-protein coupled receptors (Park and Chatterjee, 2005) which are bound extracellularly and produce a second messenger to elicit gene activation (Lluka, 2015). Richter, C. et al. and Johnson, K.R. et al. experiment with the synthesis and activation of thyroid hormone in animal models to accurately …show more content…

The thyroid stimulating hormone receptors are G-protein linked and are found extracellularly in the thyroid glands. When activated, synthesis of hormonally active iodothyronines T3 (triiodothyronine) and T4 (thyroxine) begins (Park and Chatterjee, 2005). This process begins with iodide is transported into the thyroid gland by the sodium iodide symporter found in the membrane of thyroid follicular cells (Park and Chatterjee, 2005). The iodotyrosine residues monoiodotyrosine and diiodotyrosine are then formed through iodine organification where the iodide is oxidised using hydrogen peroxide and then bound to tyrosine in the thyroglobulin (Park and Chatterjee, 2005). The residues then bind together to form the hormonally active iodothyronines aforementioned (Park and Chatterjee, 2005). Many catalytic enzymes mediate this process and are needed to ensure proper thyroid hormone synthesis. Failure in any steps of the synthesis process leads dyshormonogenesis and could be the result of genetic defects. Adequate synthesis of active thyroid hormone is necessary for the regulation of many developmental processes (Richter, C. et al., …show more content…

et al. used two different thyroid hormone receptor knock-in mutations, TRβΔ337T/Δ337T and TRβE457A/E457A, to test how triiodothyronine regulates cochlear development. They introduced the mutations in the same way for both trial groups and followed the same procedure for mice maintenance, surgery and cochlea tuning as well as using the same sound system of testing. Data was collected for auditory brainstem responses by subtracting the value measured from an electrode placed on the mastoid process from the ipsilateral electrode in the vertex, relative to the ground electrode placed in the neck and measuring, through direct instructions, the morphology of the cochlea. The researchers also measured compound action potential threshold in the cochlear by using a modified tracking system and threshold was defined as the level needed for a 20-µV N1/P1 amplitude at each frequency. Results show that TRβΔ337T/Δ337T mutants had significant increases in auditory brainstem responses, more than 60dB, and that TRβ E457A/E457A mutants had moderate elevations of approximately 20dB. Also, TRβE457A/E457A mutants show an increase in sound pressure required to raise compound action potential amplitude to the defined level and that gross morphology was normal in both groups. The results suggest that disrupted triiodothyronine leads to improper tectorial membrane development which allows for increased thresholds and decreased action potentials of inner hair cell potassium channels.

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