Gestational changes of thyroid hormone action in the developing fetal bovine epiphysis

Thyroid hormones are essential for cartilage growth and maturation. In order to assess their actions during different periods of skeletal development, [125I]-triiodothyronine (T3) binding capacity in epiphyseal cartilage and triiodothyronine concentrations in serum were quantitated in bovine fetuses of the second and third trimesters of gestation (equivalent to fetal sizes of 10-90 cm crown-rump (CR) length), and related to the alkaline phosphatase activities in the same cartilaginous tissues. Nuclear T3 binding levels, which were initially low during 10-30 cm CR, rose to a peak value (1.7 pmol/mg DNA) at the end of the second trimester (40-50 cm CR). Then, following a sharp decline at 50-60 cm CR, T3 binding rose to a moderate level in the later gestational period (60-90 cm CR). Serum total triiodothyronine rose transiently in fetuses of 30-50 cm CR to a peak level (34 ng/100 ml), and subsequently increased continuously in the later period (60-90 cm CR). Alkaline phosphatase activities measured in epiphyseal chondrocytes rose significantly in fetuses of 60-90 cm CR. The coincident rise of cartilage triiodothyronine binding capacity and serum circulating triiodothyronine levels in the late second trimester suggests that this thyroid hormone induces its own binding sites in bovine epiphyseal cartilage; the dramatic increase in the level of serum triiodothyronine during the third trimester of gestation is temporally related to the increase in alkaline phosphatase activity of chondrocytes, as well as other recognized developmental changes in the fetal bovine skeletal tissues.