1 Thyroid hormones Thyroid hormones Regulation of metabolism - increasing oxygen consumption - modulating levels of other hormones (insulin, glucagon, somatotropin, adrenalin) - important in cell differenciation - crucial role in development of CNS, gonads and bones Effects of thyroid disruption Hypothyroidism Hyperthyroidism Effects of thyroid disruption - In prenatal development - severe damage of CNS (cretenism, delayed eye opening, cognition) - Megalotestis - Histological changes in thyroid gland (goitre) 2 Thyroid hormones O OH I I II OH O NH2 O OH I I II OH O NH2 Thyroxine (T4) O OH I I I OH O NH2 3,5,3'-Triiodothyronine (T3) O OH I I I OH O NH2 O OH I I I OH O NH2 3,5,3'-Triiodothyronine (T3) - T4 ­ prohormone - 5´-deiodination leads to active form, T3 Thyroid hormones - T4 and small amount of T3 produced in thyroid gland - Most T3 produced by deiodination in target tissues (deiodinases) - T4 synthesis - iodination of tyrosin residues on tyreoglobulin - coupling of two iodotyrosines conducted by thyroid peroxidase Pituitary-thyroid axis -Regulation of thyroid synthesis -Negative feedback -TSH stimulates both I- uptake and iodination of tyrosine resides on Tg Enzymes involved in thyroid metabolism - Thyroid peroxidases - iodination of tyrosyl residues - coupling of iodinated tyrosyl residues - Thyroid deiodinases - D1, D2 - activation of T4 into T3 via deiodination on ,,outer" ring (formation of T3) - D3 - deactivation into rT3 via deiodination on ,,inner" ring O OH I I II OH O NH2 O OH I I II OH O NH2 ,,outer" ,,inner" 3 Mechanism of action -Alike other nuclear receptors -5 isoforms of TR -After activation formation of homo- and heterodimers -Binding to thyroid responsive elements -Gene expression Thyroid binding proteins - Regulating free T4 and T3 levels in blood - 3 types : -Thyroid-binding prealbunin (transthyretin) (20-25%) -Albumin (5-10%) -Thyroid binding globulin (75%) Competitive binding to thyroid binding proteins - OH-PCBs, brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, DDT, dieldrin - OH-PCBs ­ equal affinity to TBP as T4 and T3 - More of free T4 in blood => increased depletion Competitive binding to TR - Probably less important than binding to TBP - Chemicals that affect thyroid signalling in vivo mostly don´t bind to TR (DDT, PCBs) or bind with much lesser affinity than T3 (OH-PCBs ­ 10000x) 4 Accelerated depletion of TH - UDP-glucuronosyltransferase ­ detoxication enzyme (II.biotransformation phase) - Induced by PCBs, dioxins - Key enzyme in thyroid catabolism - Increased by disruption of TBP binding In vivo assessment - TH serum levels ­ simple, nondestructive x variation witin time of day, age, sensitive to other than biochemical stresses - Thyroid gland weight and folicular cells number - Delayed eye opening, abnormalities in brain development and cognition - Increased testis weight and sperm counts - Perchlorate discharge test (TH synthesis) In vitro assessment - Enzyme inhibition assays (thyroid peroxidase, deiodinases) - Competitive binding assays with TBP - TH- dependent proliferation assay (pituitary tumor GH3, thyroid tumors like FRTL-5 cell line) or TSH-dependent proliferation assay (thyroid tumors) - Receptor-reporter gene assays with luciferase (monkey kidney CV-1, chinese hamster ovary CHO or insect Sf9 cell lines)