It is a well known fact that during periods of rapid growth the amount of body fat is at a minimum. As fowls mature the amount of body fat increases. It has been assumed that the rate of thyroxine secretion by the thyroid gland plays an important role in regulating the rate of growth and fattening. Thus a slight hyperthyroid condition was thought to be favorable for rapid growth and a slightly hypothyroid condition would be conducive to fattening. Experimental demonstration of this concept has been presented in a recent study (Schultze and Turner, 1944, and unpublished data) in which it was shown that the rate of thyroxine secretion per 100 gm. body weight progressively decreases in fowls with increasing body weight and age. However, when the thyroprotein, protamone, was fed to chicks to 12 weeks of age and the thyroxine level of the blood prevented from declining normally the . . .
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Kempster et al. (1945) studied this question.