Over the past decade, there has been increased concern for environmental chemicals that can target various sites within the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis to potentially disrupt thyroid synthesis, transport, metabolism, and/or function. One well-known thyroid target in both humans and wildlife is the sodium iodide symporter (NIS) that regulates iodide uptake into the thyroid gland, the first step of thyroid hormone synthesis. Our laboratory previously developed and validated a radioactive iodide uptake (RAIU) high-throughput assay in a stably transduced human NIS cell line (hNIS-HEK293T-EPA) to identify chemicals with potential for NIS inhibition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) mediates the uptake of iodide into the thyroid. Inhibition of NIS function by xenobiotics has been demonstrated to suppress circulating thyroid hormones and perturb related physiological functions. Until recently, few environmental chemicals had been screened for NIS inhibition activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Fischer rat thyroid follicular cell line (FRTL-5) endogenously expresses the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) and has been used to identify environmental chemicals that perturb thyroid hormone homeostasis by disruption of NIS-mediated iodide uptake. Previously, a high-throughput radioactive iodide uptake (RAIU) screening assay incorporating the hNIS-HEK293T-EPA cell line was used to identify potential human NIS (hNIS) inhibitors in 1028 ToxCast Phase I (ph1_v2) and Phase II chemicals. In this study, the FRTL-5 cell line was evaluated and applied as a secondary RAIU assay coupled with cell viability assays to further prioritize highly active NIS inhibitors from the earlier screening.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegul Toxicol Pharmacol
March 2020
Perchlorate is an important oxidizer used in propellants, pyrotechnics, and as a gas generator in commercial airbags, fireworks, and roadside flares. It is highly water soluble, interferes with thyroidal iodide uptake and is an environmental contaminant. By changing the reaction chemistry, 5-aminotetrazole (5-AT) and nitrates replace perchlorate in some propellants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn support of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP), the U.S.EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) is developing high-throughput screening (HTS) approaches to identify chemicals that alter target sites in the thyroid hormone (TH) pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThyroid uptake of iodide via the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) is the first step in the biosynthesis of thyroid hormones that are critical for health and development in humans and wildlife. Despite having long been a known target of endocrine disrupting chemicals such as perchlorate, information regarding NIS inhibition activity is still unavailable for the vast majority of environmental chemicals. This study applied a previously validated high-throughput approach to screen for NIS inhibitors in the ToxCast phase I library, representing 293 important environmental chemicals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe U.S. EPA's Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program aims to use high-throughput assays and computational toxicology models to screen and prioritize chemicals that may disrupt the thyroid signaling pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine) was introduced in the 1950s as a broad spectrum herbicide, and remains one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. Several studies have suggested that atrazine modifies steroidogenesis and may disrupt reproductive function and development in a variety of species. A primary concern has been whether atrazine increases the synthesis of estrogens, perhaps by enhancing aromatase gene expression and activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn female rodents, hypothalamic norepinephrine (NE) has a role in stimulating the secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) that triggers the ovulatory surge of luteinizing hormone (LH). NE synthesis from dopamine (DA) is catalyzed by dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DbetaH) which contains a copper cofactor. Sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate (DMDC) is a pesticide with metal chelating properties that has been found to reduce DbetaH activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe disinfection by-product dibromoacetic acid (DBA) has been found in female rats to increase circulating concentrations of both estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1). This effect is apparently due, at least in part, to a suppression in hepatic catabolism. The present study investigated whether DBA, by increasing sex steroid levels, is able either to augment the hypothalamic up-regulation involved in triggering a luteinizing hormone (LH) surge, or to affect the ability of the neurotoxicant sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate (DMDC) to block the surge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBirth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol
June 2005
Background: 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is teratogenic in mice, producing cleft palate (CP). TCDD exposure disrupts expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor, EGF, and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGFalpha) in the palate and affects proliferation and differentiation of medial epithelial cells. EGF knockout embryos are less susceptible to the induction of CP by TCDD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWithin the reproductive system, oestrogenic stimulation of uterine and pituitary tissue typically causes a proliferative response accompanied by an angiogenic induction of new blood vessels from existing ones, thereby providing nutrients and oxygen to the growing tissue. The pro-oestrogenic pesticide methoxychlor (MXC), however, has shown a differential effect on proliferative activity. An increase in uterine growth is present, while the pituitary undergoes a decrease in size, even though the effect is accompanied by a characteristic oestrogen-induced elevation in pituitary prolactin concentration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe environmental toxicant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) produces cleft palate (CP) and hydronephrosis (HN) in mice. The etiology of these defects involves hyperproliferation of epithelial cells of the secondary palatal shelf and ureter, respectively. These effects correlate with altered expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha).
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