The relationship between T3 production and energy balance in salmonids and other teleosts

Extrathyroidal T₄ 5′-monodeiodination, demonstrated in several teleost species, generates T₃ which binds more effectively than T₄ to putative nuclear receptors and is probably the active thyroid hormone. T₄ to T₃ conversion is sensitive to the physiological state and provides a pivotal regulatory link between the environment and thyroid hormone action. T₃ generation is enhanced in anabolic states (positive energy balance or conditions favoring somatic growth; food intake or treatment with androgens or growth hormone) and is suppressed in catabolic states (negative energy balance or conditions not favoring somatic growth; starvation, stress, or high estradiol levels associated with vitellogenesis). In fish, as in mammals, thyroidal status may be finely tuned to energy balance and through T₃ production regulate energy-demanding processes, which in fish include somatic growth, development and early gonadal maturation.