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Thyroid Status and Serum Calcium Depression at Parturition¹

University of Tennessee, Agricultural Research Laboratory, Oak Ridge 37830²

ABSTRACT

Serum calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium analyses of blood samples take none week before calving, on the day of calving, and one week after calving for 12 normal parturitions by six pairs of thyroid-damaged and control cows showed that serum calcium of normal, but not thyroid-damaged cows, was decreased (P < .05) at parturition, serum phosphorus was not affected by either sample time or thyroid status, and serum magnesium of all cows was higher (P < .05) on the day of calving than before or after calving. In a second experiment, serum calcium of two normal calves was decreased 20% following infusion of serum from a normal cow at calving. No such decrease occurred following infusion of serum from a thyroid-damaged cow at parturition. Since thyroid damage would include cells producing calcitonin, results could be attributed to differences in calcitonin stores and/or secretion between thyroid-damaged and control cows.

¹ This manuscript is published with the permission of the Dean of the University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, Knoxville.

² Operated by the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station for the U.S. Atomie Energy Commission under Contract AT-40-1-GEN-242.