Maternal Diabetes Mellitus,a Rat Model for Nonthyroidal Illness: Correction of Hypothyroxinemia with Thyroxine Treatment Does Not Improve Fetal Thyroid Hormone Status

Maintenance of normal maternal thyroxinemia prevents severe triiodothyronine (T₃) deficiency of the fetus with primary thyroid failure (1). We have studied whether thyroxine (T₄) would also protect the fetal brain when maternal hypothyroxinemia is caused by nonthyroidal illnesses. We have used the streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus pregnant rat as a model of maternal nonthyroidal illness. We measured the effects of diabetes mellitus, and of correction of the ensuing maternal hypothyroxinemia with T₄ as compared to insulin, on maternal body weight, the outcome of pregnancy, glucose, insulin, T₄, T₃, reverse T₃, and thyrotropin levels in the maternal and fetal circulation, as well as T₄ and T₃ concentrations in tissues, and iodothyronine deiodinases in liver, lung, and brain. The diabetic mothers showed changes in thyroid hormone status typical of nonthyroidal illnesses. Thyroid hormone status of the fetuses was severely affected: the total T₄ and T₃ pools decreased to one-third of normal values. T₄ and T₃ concentrations in the fetal brain were lower than normal and the expected increase in 5′-deiodinase activity was not observed. Although insulin treatment avoided or mitigated these changes, the low cerebral T₃ did not improve with T₄ treatment of the maternal hypothyroxinemia. Several findings indicated that treatment of the severely ill dams with T₄ was actually harmful for the outcome of pregnancy. These negative effects were observed without the expected increase in the maternal or fetal T₃ pools.