This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 145/6/2767    most recent Author Manuscript (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bachman, E. S. Articles by Hollenberg, A. N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bachman, E. S. Articles by Hollenberg, A. N. Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Hazardous Substances DB LIOTHYRONINE

The Metabolic and Cardiovascular Effects of Hyperthyroidism Are Largely Independent of ß-Adrenergic Stimulation

Department of Medicine (E.S.B., H.D., A.N.H.), Division of Endocrinology; and Department of Medicine (T.G.H., I.A., J.W., J.P.M.), Division of Cardiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Eric S. Bachman, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Division of Endocrinology, Room 316, RN 99 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215. E-mail: ebachman{at}caregroup.harvard.edu.

Hyperthyroidism and states of adrenergic hyperactivity have many common clinical features, suggesting similar pathogenic mechanisms of action. The widespread use of ß-adrenergic receptor (ßAR) antagonists (ß-blockers) to treat hyperthyroidism has led to the belief that the physiological consequences of thyroid hormone (TH) excess are mediated in part via catecholamine signaling through ßARs. To test this hypothesis, we compared the response to TH excess in mice lacking the three known ßARs (ß-less) vs. wild-type (WT) mice. Although ß-less mice had a lower heart rate at baseline in comparison to WT mice, the metabolic and cardiovascular responses to hyperthyroidism were equivalent in both WT and ß-less mice. These data indicate that the metabolic and cardiovascular effects of TH excess are largely independent of ßARs. These findings suggest that the efficacy of clinical treatment of hyperthyroidism with ß-blockers is due to antagonism of sympathetic signaling, and that this process functions independently of TH action.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. J. Swoap, C. Li, J. Wess, A. D. Parsons, T. D. Williams, and J. M. Overton Vagal tone dominates autonomic control of mouse heart rate at thermoneutrality Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, April 1, 2008; 294(4): H1581 - H1588. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. J. Kahaly and W. H. Dillmann Thyroid Hormone Action in the Heart Endocr. Rev., August 1, 2005; 26(5): 704 - 728. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]