Effects of thyroxine on the Craniosynostotic Phenotype

Thyroid hormone is know to effect growth and development. However little is know about the hormone thyroxine's effect on craniofacial growth and suture development. We used microarray as one tool to determine gene expression profile of wild type and craniosynostotic (Twist 1 +/-) suture cells after thyroxine exposure. We isolated whole RNA from Wild type C57BL6 and Twist 1 +/- suture derived calvarial cells and treated with proliferation media and with thyroxine 10^-6 mol/liter for 3 or 7 days in culture. We then used an Affymetrix array and compared expression profiles between control and experimental treatments.