Good for the memory: the thyroid affects the brain more powerful than believed
The thyroid is a vital Organ that plays a major role for metabolism, growth and maturation of the body and helps to regulate many body functions. And the hormone gland is good for the memory, as Researchers now report.
Research, the Medical faculty of the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) and the University of Edinburgh show for the first time, that thyroid hormones stimulate directly the formation of nerve cells in the learning and memory center of the brain. As it says in a message, deliver the results in addition to important basis of the findings, a new approach points, how the mental performance can be improved by using the medicine.
Reduced cognitive performance
According to the figures, about one in three adults, an overactive thyroid or an underactive thyroid suffers from in Germany.
The body does not produce enough hormones, claims to be Concerned, in addition to a feeling of tiredness and lethargy or depressive moods, also on a reduced cognitive performance.
The latter depends, according to the experts highly in the Hippocampus, our learning and memory centre, new nerve cells are formed.
Uptake of thyroid hormones is driven
The hormone specialist Dr. Steffen Mayerl sub-teams studied as part of a research on the connection between the distribution of thyroid hormones and the formation of new neurons.
The Team took especially their precursor cells, which are produced by resident stem cells in the Hippocampus, in the view.
“We were able to show that these progenitor cells, amplified to form a Transporter that drives the uptake of thyroid hormones forward. This maturation processes are brought to new functional nerve cells,“ says Mayerl.
The results of the research will be reported in the prestigious journal “Stem Cell Reports”.
Diseases of the thyroid gland often due to iodine deficiency
As the professional Association of German internists (BDI), explains on his website “internists in the network”, are the result of many thyroid diseases “a long-standing Iodine deficiency, as in Germany, as in many other European countries, with the food traditionally too little Iodine is supplied.”
The experts indicate that “in the meantime, an improvement in the supply of iodine primarily due to the rich supply of iodized salt” is noted. (ad)