Abstract
Young, male ICR mice were given tap water or distilled water containing 200 mg/l propylthiouracil (PTU) and were then infected with 10 plerocercoids of Spirometra erinacei to investigate the effect of plerocercoid infection on thyroid hormone in their hosts. Plerocercoid infection stimulated growth in PTU-induced hypothyroid mice as if they had never received PTU treatment: there were increases in weight in the liver, skeletal muscle, and spleen, as well as enhancement of the head and body length, in spite of a greater decrease in serum T4 levels than was observed in PTU-treated controls. Furthermore, the intact mice infected with plerocercoids showed a decrease in serum T4 levels as well as in the concentration of T4-binding globulin. These observations suggest that the growth stimulation and the decrease in concentrations of serum T4 and T4-binding globulin associated with plerocercoid infection in mice probably resulted from secretion of a growth hormone-like substance produced by plerocercoids of S. erinacei.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahren B, Ericsson M, Hedner P, Ingemansson S, Westgren U (1978) Somatostatin inhibits thyroid hormone secretion induced by exogenous TSH in man. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 47:1156–1163
Burstein PJ, Draznin B, Johnson CJ, Don S (1979) The effect of hypothyroidism on growth hormone-dependent somatomedin, insulin-like growth factor, and its carrier protein in rats. Endocrinology 104:1107–1111
Daughaday WH (1981) The adenohypophysis. In: Williams RH (ed) Textbook of endocrinology, 6th edn. WB Saunders Co., Philadelphia, p 111
Froesch ER, Zapf J, Audhya TK, Ben-Porath E, Segen BJ, Gibson KD (1976) Non-suppressible insulin-like activity and thyroid hormone: Major pituitary-dependent sulfation factors for chick embryo cartilage. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 73:2904–2908
Garland JT, Daughaday WH (1972) Feedback inhibition of pituitary growth hormone in rats infected with Spirometra mansonoides. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 139:497–499
Hirai K, Nishida H, Shiwaku K, Okuda H (1978) Studies on the plerocercoid growth factor of Spirometra erinacei (Rudolphi 1819) with special reference to the effect on lipid mobilization in vitro. Jpn J Parasitol 27:527–533
Hirai K, Shiwaku K, Tsuboi T, Torii M, Nishida H, Yamane Y (1983) Biological effects of Spirometra erinacei plerocercoids in several species of rodents. Z Parasitenkd 69:489–499
Hirai K, Tsuboi T, Torii M (1986) Purification of the growth hormone-like substance from the plerocercoid of Spirometra erinacei. Jpn J Parasitol 35 (Suppl):108 (in Japanese)
Ingbar SH, Woeber KA (1981) Measurements of hormone binding. In: Williams RH (ed) Textbook of endocrinology, 6th edn. WB Saunders Co., Philadelphia, pp 153–154
Mueller JF (1968) Growth stimulating effect of experimental sparganosis in thyroidectomized and hypophysectomized rats, and comparative activity of different species of Spirometra. J Parasitol 54:795–801
Oppenheimer JH, Schwartz HL, Surks MI (1972) Propylthiouracil inhibits the conversion of L-thyroxine to L-triiodothyronine. J Clin Invest 51:2493–2497
Phares CK (1982) The lipogenic effect of the growth factor produced by plerocercoids of the tapeworm, Spirometra mansonoides, is not the result of hypothyroidism. J Parasitol 68:999–1003
Polychronakos C, Guyda HJ, Patel B, Posner BI (1986) Increase in the number of type II insulin-like growth factor receptors during propylthiouracil-induced hyperplasia in the rat thyroid. Endocrinology 119:1204–1209
Samueles HH, Stanley F, Sapiro LE (1979) Control of growth hormone synthesis in cultured GH1 cell by 3,5,3,-triiodo-L-thyronine and glucocorticoid agonists and antagonists: Studies on the independent and synergistic regulation of the growth hormone response. Biochemistry 18:715–721
Shiwaku K, Hirai K (1982) Growth-promoting effect of Spirometra erinacei (Rudolphi 1819) plerocercoids in young mice. Jpn J Parasitol 31:185–195
Shiwaku K, Hirai K, Torii M, Tsuboi T (1983) Effects of Spirometra erinacei plerocercoids on the growth of Snell dwarf mice. Parasitology 87:447–453
Shiwaku K, Hirai K, Tsuboi T, Torii M (1986) Enhancement of serum somatomedin activity and cartilage mitotic activity in Snell normal and dwarf mice infected with Spirometra erinacei plerocercoids. Jpn J Parasitol 35:411–417
Sinha YN, Salocks CB, Vanderlaan WP (1975) Pituitary and serum concentration of prolactin and GH in Snell dwarf mice. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 150:207–210
Solomon DH, Benotti J, DeGroot LJ, Greer MA, Oppenheimer JH, Pileggi VJ, Robbins J, Selenkow HA, Sterling K, Volpe R (1976) Revised nomenclature for tests of thyroid hormones in serum: The committee on nomenclature of the American Thyroid Association. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 42:595–598
Stanley MM, Astwood EB (1947) Determination of the relative activities of antithyroid compounds in man using radioactive iodine. Endocrinology 41:66–84
Takano K, Hasumi Y, Hizuka N, Kogawa M, Tsushima T, Shizume K (1980) Effect of thyroid hormone on the serum level of somatomedin A. Endocrinol Jpn 27:643–652
Tsuboi T, Hirai K (1986) Lipid metabolism in golden hamsters infected with plerocercoids of Spirometra erinacei (Cestoda: Pseudophyllidea) Parasitology 93:143–151
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hirai, K., Tsuboi, T. & Torii, M. Effect of infection with Spirometra erinacei plerocercoid on thyroid hormone in mice. Parasitol Res 74, 262–266 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00539575
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00539575