Consideration on serum triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) concentration and T3/T4 ratio in the patients of senile dementia--is it possible to prevent cerebro-vascular dementia?

Abstract

Serum T3 concentration and T3/T4 Ratio in the patients of senile dementia (SD) are smaller than those in the healthy. Especially, those in the group of cerebro-vascular dementia (CVD) were remarkably lower than the healthy. However average of serum T4 in the former is very similar to it in the latter. This fact suggests the disturbance of metabolic transformation of T4 to T3 in the post-apoplectic brain. It seems to lead man to the metabolic disturbances of glucose, protein, nucleic acid, etc, and moreover CVD. Basing on the experiences, the author thinks of the next .--'Cerebro-vascular dementia may be able to be prevented, if a very small dose of triiodothyronine (T3) is given to the early stage after an apoplectic attack with a consideration to side-effects of T3. Moreover, T3 may bring a preventive and therapeutic effect even to senile dementia of Alzheimer's type (SDAT).' 'The reason why the Japanese people have tended to suffer from CVD more frequently than SDAT, may be due to the customs, of which they have lived in seaside and taken iodine-rich fishes and marine plants as their subsidiary foods, as if the schizophrenic patients in the Alpine regions of iodine-lack were characterized by prevalence of so called negative symptoms'.