Affiliations: [a] Physiological Section of the Paracelsus Institute Bad Hall, Austria | [b] Department of Zoology, University of Graz, Austria
Note: [] Accepted by: Editor J.C. Healy
Abstract: Three groups of male Sprague Dawley rats received methimazole without or with Na-thyroxine in drinking water (3 and 0.33 mg T4/l, respectively) to induce characteristic alterations of their thyroid status (hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, euthyroid). A fourth group served as an untreated control without any additive to the drinking water. With respect to the different thyroid status, the following changes in the blood parameters were found: increasing plasma-T3-levels caused a reduction in plasma viscosity, in total plasma protein and in α1-globulin, but an increase in hematocrit, whole blood viscosity, the number of erythrocytes and leukocytes, α2-globulin and β-globulin. It was concluded that the increase in the plasma viscosity in the hypothyroid status is mainly due to an alteration of the plasma protein pattern, and that the increase in whole blood viscosity in the hyperthyroid rat is a consequence of increased hematocrit.
