[Thyroid gland function and intrapulmonary temperature in tuberculosis]

The experiment on 140 albino mice examined the relationship between the pulmonary thermogenesis and the functional activity of the hypophyseal-thyroid system at different stages of pulmonary tuberculous inflammation development, during Staphylococcus-induced pneumonia, aseptic inflammation in lung tissue. Deep abnormalities of the heat-generating function of the lung were revealed just at the early periods of specific inflammation. The degree of hypothermal reactions of lung tissue correlated with the inhibition of hypophyseal-thyroidal function at all developmental stages of a tuberculous process. The changes were rather pronounced, stable and phasic. Spontaneous regression of the tuberculous process was not accompanied by recovery in the activity of the hypophyseal-thyroidal system, despite the fact that there was a clear-cut trend to normalization of pulmonary thermogenesis.