Biological Activity of Thyrotropin in Two Teleost Fish, Red Drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and Goldfish (Carassius auratus)

• Main Author: Miller, Thomas Charles
• Other Authors: MacKenzie, Duncan S., Jaques, Scott, Gatlin, Delbert, Rosenthal, Gil
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: thyrotropin; teleost fish; thyroid hormone; goldfish; red drum; bioassay; Red drum; Sciaenops ocellatus
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2011-05-9393

Thyrotropin (TSH) is a glycoprotein hormone released from the pituitary gland to promote the synthesis and secretion of thyroid hormone. The existence of well-established peripheral mechanisms for regulation of thyroid hormone delivery to targets has called into question the significance of TSH as a primary regulator of circulating thyroid hormone concentrations in fish. However, relatively little is known about the regulation or action of endogenously secreted teleost TSH, largely due to lack of purified TSH suitable for biological testing and immunoassay development. I developed a red drum in vivo bioassay to aid in the production and purification of recombinant TSH from the red drum, a perciform fish demonstrating dynamic daily thyroxine (T4) cycles hypothesized to be driven by TSH. Exogenous bovine TSH injection resulted in a time and dose-dependent increase in circulating TSH and T4 in red drum. However, the sensitivity of the red drum thyroid gland to stimulation by bovine TSH was lost during growth under controlled laboratory conditions, even when circulating levels of exogenously-administered mammalian TSH remained elevated. The insensitivity of the thyroid was not due to prior TSH injection or feed source. Because insensitivity of the Thyrotropin (TSH) is a glycoprotein hormone released from the pituitary gland to promote the synthesis and secretion of thyroid hormone. The existence of well-established peripheral mechanisms for regulation of thyroid hormone delivery to targets has called into question the significance of TSH as a primary regulator of circulating thyroid hormone concentrations in fish. However, relatively little is known about the regulation or action of endogenously secreted teleost TSH, largely due to lack of purified TSH suitable for biological testing and immunoassay development. I developed a red drum in vivo bioassay to aid in the production and purification of recombinant TSH from the red drum, a perciform fish demonstrating dynamic daily thyroxine (T4) cycles hypothesized to be ...