Thyroid dysfunction modulates glucoregulatory mechanism in rat.

The role of the thyroid gland in glucose homeostasis remains incompletely understood. To get a better insight hypo-and hyperthyroid conditions were experimentally induced in rat and found severe defects in glucose homeostasis. While blood glucose level returned to normal level after 2.5 hr of oral glucose challenge in control rats the blood glucose level remained high even after 24 hr of glucose load in both hypo- and hyperthyroid rats. These experimentally manipulated rats displayed higher levels of liver glycogen (10.45-22.8-fold) and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (1.48-9.8-fold). Liver histology of hyperthyroid treated rats revealed hepatotoxicity. From the results it can be concluded that thyroid gland plays an important role in glucose homeostasis.