| Abstract: | Depression of thyroid function by chronic administration of mercazolyl to rats aged from 5–7 days to 4 months causes a reduction in motor activity of the animals, a decrease in the absolute and relative weights of the bones, muscles, and heart, reduced oxygen demand and cardiac activity, and also hypercholesteremia, combined with a fall in the cholesterol level in the skeletal muscle tissues. Delayed growth and development of the musculoskeletal system and the reduced oxygen consumption lead to a decrease in body weight of the experimental rats under the age of 1 month compared with that of control animals. In rats aged 1–4 months, these factors lead to an increase in the gain in weight because of disturbance of lipid metabolism, despite a decrease in weight of the muscles and bones.Laboratory of Age and Comparative Physiology, Institute of General Pathology and Pathological Physiology, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR A. M. Chernukh.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 89, No. 3, pp. 287–289, March, 1980. |
