Hypothyroidism and altered brain deactivation

Thyroid hormone is known to play a crucial role in the adult brain, influencing both mood and cognition. It is widely accepted that hypothyroidism is associated with pathological alterations of thyroid hormone distributions and functioning in both hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Various adverse effects on neurocognitive functions have been attributed to hypothyroidism including working memory. Working memory is considered to be at the centre of many other cognitive functions and is vital for general human intelligence. Studies have shown that a deficit in working memory occurs even in mild subclinical hypothyroidism. However the underlying neural substrate of such dysfunction remains to be explored.

He et al. studied the impact of hypothyroidism on neural circuits involved in working memory processing and present the results of a longitudinal study investigating alterations in brain function during a working memory task, the 4-digit backward recall and forward recall in hypothyroid patients and euthyroid controls. Their study provides novel evidence for alteration in brain function in hypothyroid patients during working memory processing. He et al. (2011) European Journal of Endocrinology 164 951-959.

Read the full article at: DOI:10.1530/EJE-11-0046.