That Neuroscience Guy - Neuroscience Bites-The Thyroid Gland

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

In today's Neuroscience Bite, we discuss the thyroid gland - an important body part for regulating hormones and metabolism. 

Hi, my name is Olaf Kregolsen and I'm a neuroscientist at the University of Victoria. In my spare time, I'm that neuroscience guy. Welcome to another neuroscience bite. So last bite we talked about the pituitary gland, so I thought this bite would talk about the thyroid gland. Now the thyroid gland isn't in your brain. It's actually under the front of your neck if you don't know where it is, just under your skin. But it's part of your endocrine system and that system controls many of your body's functions and it does it by producing and releasing hormones. So the thyroid's main job is to control the speed of your metabolism, which is why people

with thyroid issues can have eating disorders or eating problems. And it's basically the process of how your body transforms food to consume into energy. And the endocrine system as a whole basically supports a lot of body functions, but the thyroid gland is a part of it. All right. And they released these hormones directly into the bloodstream to exert a form of control. Now, what does the thyroid specifically do? Well, it secretes a couple of specific hormones, thyroxin, which goes by the abbreviation T4, and it's the primary hormone that your thyroid makes and it releases. It basically, it doesn't have much effect on your metabolism, but once the thyroid releases T4 into your bloodstream, it can convert it to T3 through basically a chemical

process. Now, T3 is basically just another hormone, and that's the one that has the impact on your metabolism and speeds it up. And your thyroid gland also helps you produce RT3, which basically reverses the effects of T3. So T3 and RT3 are these two hormones that one increases your metabolism, the other one slows it down. And then last but not least, the thyroid gland also releases calotonin, and it basically regulates the amount of calcium in your blood. Now, you might think, what is the endocrine system really doing other than this metabolism thing? Well, that's the key part of what the thyroid hormones do, is control the metabolism, like I've said.

But they also play a crucial rate in governing your heart rate, your breathing, digestion, body temperature, brain development, mental activity, skin and bone maintenance, and even fertility. So the thyroid gland does play an important role within the endocrine system. And at a high level, this, this of course is controlled by your brain. All right, there's another neuroscience bite on the thyroid gland. That's all I have, of course, because it's a bite. Check out the website, thatneuroscienceguy.com. If you've got ideas, of course, follow me on threads or X at that neuroscience guy and send them in. Or you can email us that neuroscience guy at gmail.com. And of course the podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Please subscribe if you haven't already. My name is Olive Kregolson and I'm that neuroscience guy. I'll talk to you soon

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