A man has an operation on the neck, and the surgeon has to remove all four small glands that lie on…
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A man has an operation on the neck, and the surgeon has to remove all four small glands that lie on the back of the thyroid. A week later his hands and face twitch, and his muscles go into spasm.
- Name the removed glands and the hormone that is now short.
- What has happened to the calcium of his blood?
- Name the three places where the missing hormone normally acts.
- What is the condition of his muscles called?
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
The four parathyroid glands make PTH, which raises the calcium of the blood by acting on the bones, the renal tubules and the gut. A low calcium causes tetany. The Leydig cells of the testis make androgens. The growing follicles of the ovary make estrogen, and the corpus luteum makes mainly progesterone. One mmol of calcium is 40 mg.
The worked solution
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. (a) The parathyroid glands. The hormone that is short is PTH, the parathyroid hormone.
Step 2. (b) The calcium of the blood falls, because there is no PTH to raise it.
Step 3. (c) The bones (bone resorption), the renal tubules (reabsorption of calcium) and the gut (absorption from food).
Step 4. (d) Tetany.
Answer: (a) parathyroid glands, PTH; (b) the calcium falls; (c) bones, renal tubules, gut; (d) tetany.
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