Abstract
A diagnosis of iodine-deficient goiter was confirmed in newborn piglets that were born hairless edematous, and with markedly enlarged thyroid gland. Clinically, most of the piglets were born dead, extreme weakness or dying within a few hours of birth. Gestation periods were prolonged for 3-7 days. Histopathologically, hair follicles were scarce and reduced in size, contained slender hairs, and revealed a shallow penetration into the hypodermis that showed severe diffuse edema. Thyroid glands had severely hyperplastic follicles and poorly staining colloid. The follicles were irregular in size and shape depending on varying amounts of lightly eosinophilic and granular colloid in the lumen. The iodine content of the diet fed to the sows and plasma total thyroxine and triiodothyronine concentration of sows were very low. This is a first report for iodine-deficient goiter in newborn piglets in Korea.
