A defect in thyroglobulin synthesis in an inherited ovine goitre: possible neonatal respiratory distress syndrome

Authors: Davis GB, Jones BR, Labuc RH, Greenway RM, Jolly RD
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 34, Issue 9, pp 145-148, Sep 1986
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant, Sheep
Subject Terms: Congenital disease, Endocrine/autocrine/paracrine, Genetics, Thyroid, Disease/defect, Inherited disease/conditions, Trace elements, Metabolic disease
Article class: Scientific Article

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Abstract: A ram lamb with congenital goitre showed signs of respiratory distress at birth. All previously affected lambs from this flock bad been born dead or bad died soon after birth. The serum free-thyroxine level at 1 birth was low (9.8pmol/l) but treatment with oral L-thyroxine resulted in an increase in thyroxine blood levels to above normal and regression of the goitre. Four weeks after withdrawal of thyroid supplementation and when the lamb was eight weeks old, the radio iodide uptake mechanism of the thyroid glands was shown to be intact but the iodide was not organified. Low normal peroxidase activity was demonstrated in fresh thyroid tissue but gel electrophoresis demonstrated an absence of normal thyroglobulin from extracts of the goitrous thyroid. This lamb and the other affected lambs of this flock have an inherited defect in thyroglobulin synthesis and it is likely that the respiratory distress was associated with the low levels of thyroid hormone affecting foetal lung development.

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