Effect of iodine deficiency on the reproductive performance of female rats and the viability and growth rate of their progeny

Abstract

The experimental period was apparently too short and the number of rats too small to demonstrate a significant effect of iodine deficiency on some indices of reproduction of the females and the growth rate of their progeny. It was found, however, that iodine deficiency: a) delayed significantly the conception of the second generation females (C2) (Table 3) but was quite ineffective in the first generation females (B1, C1) (Tables 2 & 4), b) did not significantly affect the number of pups dropped or their birth weight, c) increased pup mortality during suckling period, d) tended to decrease the weight of the female sex organs of adult rats (Table 5), e) increased the absolute thyroid weight more rapidly in young growing rats than in old fullgrown rats (Tables 3, 4 & 5), and more rapidly in growing males than females, f) decreased significantly and progressively the PBI level in the serum of adult females which had pregnancies and lactations, g) obviously adversely affected the milk secretion of C1 rats during their second lactation on iodine deficient diet (Experiment II) as judged from the growth rate of their pups during 0—15 days after birth, h) did not adversely affect the growth rate of the suckling offspring of the dams during their first lactation on iodine deficient diet (Tables 3 & 4), i) did not significantly affect the rate of gain of the young rats from weaning up to 60-days of age. The rats transferred from iodine deficient to commercial diet at weaning had larger body weights and smaller thyroids at the age of 60 days than their litter mates remaining on an iodine deficient diet (Table 4). There is of course a possibility that the commercial diet was more palatable than the semisynthetic diet. It is also possible that the iodine deficiency activated the thyroid during the preweaning period and that after the transfer to iodine containing commercial diet at weaning, more thyroxine was secreted from preactivated glands compared to thyroids of the controls or thyroids of the rats kept on an iodine deficident diet throughout the growth period. Thyroid hormones are required for normal growth. A hypothyroid condition favours the accumulation of water and fat into the body tissues and may by this way result in an increase of the body weight. ln this study, however, no attempt was made to estimate the fat content of the body of the experimental rats.