ON THE CEREBRAL EFFECTS OF THE THYROID HORMONES
Abstract
The article provides information about the historical and current concepts of the effect of thyroid hormones on neurons, neuroglia, organogenesis and activity of the brain, intellectual and mnestic functions. Thyroid hormones affect the brain through their genetic and epigenetic pathways of influence, including control of the biosynthesis of the brain derived neurotrophic factor, apoptosis like processes in the reduction of neural networks determining the neuronal plasticity, affecting the phagocytic behavior of microglia, as well as the fate of brain stem cells, the intensity of bioelectrical processes in neurons etc. In thyroid diseases, the cerebral functions are affected not only by hormonal, but also by autoimmunological factors. The literature and authors’ original data are summarized regarding the hormonal disorders in Hashimoto’s encephalopathy and their correlation with neuropsychiatric manifestations of autoimmune thyroiditis.
