Thyroid hormones in the early postnatal development of the CNS: effect of hyperthyroidism on proliferative activity of white matter cells of rat cerebellum]

The effect of triiodothyronin on the proliferative activity of the white matter cells has been studied by means of radioautography in the cerebellum vermis and hemisphere of developing rats. The index of labelled nuclei and the mitotic index of the white matter glial elements in both the cerebellum regions of 7 and 10 days old hyperthyroid animals are markedly reduced. Besides, the general tendency was found towards the increase of the mitotic cycle duration in the white matter cells due to the lengthening of S and G2 + 1/2 M periods. The data obtained are discussed with respect to the importance of thyroid hormones for the CNS development.