· By what stages is thyroxin released?
· What disease does insufficient thyroxin production lead to?
· How is the level of production of the hormone thyroxin determined?
· Why is the collaboration between this hormone and growth hormone important?
The cells of the eyes that enable you to read this paper need glucose for nourishment. A system that calculates the amount of sugar in your blood and keeps that level stable has therefore been installed in your body. The number of times your heart needs to beat a minute, the level of calcium stored in your bones, the amount of blood your kidneys filter in a minute and thousands of other similar details are calculated and organized by means of the planning and a communications network among the cells. This chemical communication system that ensures 100 trillion cells work together in harmony is known as the hormone system. The system contains a number of working hormones. One of these is the hormone thyroxin.
The tissues that comprise the human body are constantly being renewed. In order for this to happen, 200 million cells are born in the body every minute and replace dead cells. The supervision of this immaculate system has been entrusted, at the desire of Almighty God, to this hormone called thyroxin. This supervises the body, determines cells whose life span has been completed and issues commands to the relevant units for new production to take place. In other words, the renewal of the body depends on the activity of this hormone.
The Miraculous Characteristics of the Hormone Thyroxin
To grasp the importance of the hormone thyroxin, all you need do is look in the mirror. There is a proportion right from birth in everyone’s mouth, nose, eyes, face and body. You are indebted to the hormone thyroxin, created by Almighty God with flawless functioning, for this proportion. If thyroxin molecules had not visited your cells one by one many years ago when that body was still developing and told them how to divide, then the organs of our body would be completely disproportional and this could even lead to mental retardation.
Indeed, mental retardation appears as a result of the disease known as cretinism, caused by insufficient production of the hormone thyroxin immediately after birth. At the end of the developmental process, people who suffer from this disease have disproportionate bodies, generally having short legs and large heads. Thyroxin deficiency also causes dwarfism.
How Is the Hormone Thyroxin Released?
A system with advanced technology and planning has been created to regulate the amount of thyroxin secreted and the timing. Release of the hormone thyroxin takes place as the result of a chain of commands. Pieces of flesh consisting of combinations of unconscious cells have a highly disciplined and regular hierarchy among themselves.
When thyroxin is needed, the hypothalamus, the seat of the hormonal system, sends a command (TRH – Thyrotropin Releasing Hormone) to the pituitary gland, the hormonal system’s orchestral conductor. The pituitary gland that receives the command realizes that the thyroid gland has to go into action. It immediately sends a command (TSH – Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) to the thyroid. The final link in the chain of commands is that the thyroid gland immediately produces thyroxin in the light of that instruction and distributes it throughout the body by way of the blood stream.
Millions of processes are taking place in your body as you read this. Through these processes, calculations are made regarding what cells in which part of your body need, and what they need to do. Steps are taken to meet the cells’ needs, and the cells are told, one by one, what they must do. Thanks to the flawless communication system inside your body, its 100 trillion cells meet all your needs without your ever being aware of it. This flawless communication takes place thanks to your hormones. Thyroxin is one of the many hormones in your body.
The Sensitive Level of Thyroxin Production
The level of thyroxin secreted is determined thanks to a special system created by God with enormous artistry. This system consists of two separate measurement and feedback mechanisms. Both of these mechanisms are examples of a matchless engineering.
When the level of thyroxin in the blood rises above normal, thyroxin establishes a very interesting effect on the pituitary gland and sometimes directly on the hypothalamus: it reduces the sensitivity of the pituitary gland to TRH. A little reflection here will reveal a marvel here because the task of TRH is to stimulate the pituitary gland and arrange for a command (TSH) to be sent to the thyroid gland. This command represents the second link in the chain set up for production of thyroxin.
The system has been created in such detail that the rising thyroxin takes a highly intelligent precaution to ensure that over-production does not take place and interrupts the chain of command established for its own manufacture. In this way, when the level of thyroxin in the blood rises above normal, thyroxin automatically slows down its own manufacture.
There is also a second system that determines the level of thyroxin production. Rising thyroxin affects the cells of the hypothalamus, and these cells reduce TRH production. The production of TSH secreted from the pituitary gland therefore declines and thyroxin production slows down.
Are You Aware of the Miraculous Processes Taking Place in Your Body Moment by Moment?
Together with the nervous system, the hormone system establishes co-ordination of the body’s cells. If we compare the nervous system to messages sent over the internet, then the hormone system resembles messages sent by letter; slower, but effective over a longer period of time.
Examination of these systems that manage the body reveals a major truth of which people are unaware. Some people think that they manage and direct their own lives. When asked, “How much control do you have over your own body?” these people will reply, “Total control.” Yet, that answer conflicts with the scientific facts because people can only control a very small part of their bodies, and even then, only partially. For example, they can use their bodies to walk or talk, or they can make things by using their hands. However, thousands of chemical and physical events in the depths of the body take place independently of a person’s knowledge and will. Someone who thinks he is in charge of his own body is therefore making a grave error. In one verse God says:
“Say: ‘Have you thought about your partner gods, those you call upon besides God? Show me what they have created of the earth; or do they have a partnership in the heavens?’ Have We given them a Book whose Clear Signs they follow? No indeed! The wrongdoers promise each other nothing but delusion.” (Surat al-Fatir, 40)
Thyroxin and Growth Hormone at Work
Thyroxin does not act alone during the growth stage in children but together with growth hormone. Growth hormone is a molecule that tells the child’s cells to grow and multiply during the developmental stage. In addition, this hormone also determines the number and amount of cell divisions. However, there is another very important detail in addition to determining the amount and number; the rate of cell division. Thyroxin enters the equation at this stage and affects the speed of cell division during childhood. In this way, the individual completes his or her healthy development.
The people you see in daily life, your school friends, people walking on the streets, your work colleagues, your family; all these people owe the shape of their bodies to two tiny molecules created in a perfect manner by Almighty God – growth hormone and thyroxin. These hormones have been released at just the right time and in just the right quantities; they have commanded trillions of cells and have told all these cells how much and at what rate to multiply, the result being the perfectly shaped human body.
The level of production of these molecules in human beings has been very carefully adjusted in every person’s body – neither too much, nor too little. What would happen if there were serious variations in the production of these hormones from person to person? In that event, there would be serious variations in people’s appearances. Billions of people would be two and a half or three meters tall, and billions of others just one meter or less. Each one would have disproportionate bodies and organs and almost all would suffer from profound mental retardation. Billions of people would die while they were still in adolescence.
Conclusion: “… Everything has its measure with Him.” (Surat ar-Ra’d, 8)
A person’s physical appearance and characteristics come about through two tiny molecules – immaculately created by God – growth hormone and thyroxin. If thyroxin did not calculate the number of diminishing cells or produced more or less than were needed, the result would be turmoil in the body. Since cells could not be renewed sufficiently, premature aging would occur in one's physical appearance and organs would become unable to function. Overproduction would mean that organs would grow in an uncontrolled manner, tumors would occur, and this would quickly lead to death. However, by creating these two miraculous hormones, our Almighty Lord has created His servants in a flawless manner:
“He created the heavens and the Earth with truth and formed you, giving you the best of forms. And He is your final destination.” (Surat al-Taghabun, 3)
The Perfect Equivalence Between Cells and Hormones
Hormones are generally described as a signal group planned and coded to regulate the interior of the human body. These signals stimulate cells in different organs and tissues. A hormone goes unrecognized in the different tissues it passes through until it reaches the target cell. A question comes to mind at this point; how does the cell identify its own hormone?
The cells targeted by hormones have an antenna or receptor on their surface. This receptor is programmed with knowledge of the hormone that binds to it. In this way, the hormone sent out never binds to a wrong receptor, and no wrong organ or tissue is ever stimulated. (Eldra Pearl Solomon, Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology, p. 132)
When the hormone molecule attaches to the receptor on the cell surface, a cascade of reactions takes place inside the cell. As a result of these reactions, the cell does what it is commanded to do.
This happens as follows: For example, if the instruction sent commands the cell to produce a specific protein, then various enzymes in the cell go into action. These enzymes go to the DNA, the cell’s data bank, find the information for the relevant protein and copy it. The production of the protein in question thus begins.
The components of the system work just like the links in a chain. Failure of any of the chains to do its job will cause the chain to break; in other words, it will compromise the entire system. Such an interruption will be very dangerous for the body, and can sometimes even end in death.
Thyroxin molecules released into the blood stream by the thyroid gland bind to a transport molecule created specifically for this purpose and thus travel through the blood stream, and they cannot discharge their function so long as they are attached to this molecule. Only four out of 10,000 thyroxin molecules are free in the bloodstream. It is thus only four out of every 10,000 thyroxin molecules that affects the rate of cellular metabolism. There is no doubt that this is proof that God reigns over all the worlds, whether we can see them or not, that he enfolds all things and that he determines the numbers of all things on Earth:
“...He [God] encompasses what is in their hands and has counted the exact number of everything.” (Surat al-Jinn, 28)
“To God belong the Most Beautiful Names, so call on Him by them and abandon those who desecrate His Names. They will be repaid for what they did.” (Surat al-A’raf. 180)
