Light and Ultrastructure of Thyroid Gland of Male Bat

Taphozous kachhensis is a seasonally monotocous nonhibernating and largest Indian Emballonurid wild caught bat. The primary function of the thyroid gland is to control metabolic activities and found to be an important modulator of reproductive function in bat. Thyroid hormones were shown to be required for a normal transition from beginning to end of the reproduction. The weight of gland, T3, T4 and TSH concentration is high when spermatogenesis is at peak activity during the sexually active period and low when testes in quiescent. One of the major outcomes of the present findings is that, the follicular and parafollicular cells of thyroid gland of Taphozous kachhensis as in other species of bats and mammals indicate that the thyroid hormones are directly or indirectly take part in the reproductive processes by metabolic effect. Hypo or hyper function of thyroid gland is known to suppresses the reproductive activity.