Superoxide dismutase activation in thyroid and suppression in adrenal. Novel pituitary regulatory routes

This study reports that administration of TSH in young female mice results in a concomitant augmentation of SOD activity in the thyroid gland. A strong thyroid-adrenal interdependence was also evident in the form of a marked loss of SOD activity in the adrenal gland in response to TSH administration. Very recently SOD/O2.- system had been identified as a potent H2O2 generator which provides substrate for the action of key enzyme in thyroxine and progesterone biosynthesis, viz. the peroxidase. Thus, these results strongly suggest that trophic hormones tonically stimulate hormone biosynthesis by modulating activation/suppression of specific enzymes, which could be the basis of the tuning sequence.