Dyslipidemia in rats with hypothyroidism

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a study to analyze dyslipidemia in rats with hypothyroidism. Male Wistar rats with an initial weight ranging from 160 to 200 g were used. They were divided into two groups. The rats of the first group received daily subcutaneous injections of 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) dissolved in 0.9% NaCl, pH 8.5. The rats of the other group (control rats) received an equivalent volume of 0.9% NaCl pH 8.5. The rats treated with PTU became hypophagic after 8 days of treatment. To assure equicaloric consumption of food, pair feeding procedure was introduced. Therefore, the amount of food given to the control rats was restricted to the amount consumed daily by the PTU-treated animals. At the end of treatment, nonfasting rats were anesthetized with Nembutal and bled from the carotid artery. It was found that after 25 days of treatment with propylthiouracil, the level of T 4 fell to 24% of that found in the control rats. The level of T 3 also diminished but to a lesser extent.