Lecture 12: Thyroid Gland Flashcards
(45 cards)
What hormones are produced from the thyroid gland?
Tetraiodothyronine (T4)
Triiodothyronine (T3)
Calcitonin
Which one is more common, T3 or T4?
Which one is the active form?
T4: more common
T3: active
What is the functional unit of the thyroid gland?
Thyroid follicle
What is the thyroid follicular lumen filled with?
What is it composed of?
Colloid
Newly synthesized thyroid hormones attached to thyroglobulin
What lines the thyroid follicle?
What is its function?
Cuboidal epithelial cells
Takes up iodine
What is a key enzyme for peripheral converion of T4 to T3?
Deiodinase
What can cause reduced conversion of T4 to T3?
Fasting
Medical and surgical stress
Catabolic disease
What are the eight steps of thyroid hormone synthesis?
- Thyroglobulin (which has a lot of tyrosine) is synthezied in follicular epithelial cell and pushed into the follicular lumen, awaiting iodization.
- Iodide enters follicular epithelial cell via Na+/I- symporter.
- Iodide moves to apical membrane of the follicular epithelial cell via pendrin where it meets thyroid peroxidase. Iodide is converted to iodine.
- Iodine passes through apical membrane and meets thryoglobulin in follicle.
- I2 + Thryoglobulin —-> MIT/DIT via thyroid peroxidase
- MIT/DIT remains attached to thyroglobulin in follicle until thyroid gland is stimulated to make hormones.
- MIT/DIT —-> T3/T4 via thyroid peroxidase
- When thyroid gland is stimulated, MIT/DIT + T3/T4 are endocytosed back in to follicular epithelial cell.
- Cell lysosmal membranes fuse with thryoglobulin and lysosmal proteases hydrolze peptide bonds to release MIT/DIT and T3/T4.
- T3/T4 are transported across basal membrane into blood stream. MIT/DIT remain in follicular epithelial cell and are deionated via thyroid deiodinase.
What can inhibit the Na+/I- symporter?
Perchlorate
What is pendrin?
Cl-/I- counter transporter on apical membrane of follicular epithelial cell
What happens if there is a mutation in pendrin?
- Defects in transporter across apical membrane
- Can affect cochlea –> snsorineural hearing loss
- Pendred Syndrome: hypothryoidism with goiter
What oxidizes iodide to make iodine?
Thyroid Peroxidase
Why is there more T4 produced than T3?
DIT is made much faster than MIT
What happens if there is a intrathyroid deiodinase deficiency?
Mimics dietary iodine deficiency
-can’t recycle MIT and DIT
What does PTU do?
Treat hyperthyroidism (including Grave’s)
-inhibits thyroid peroxidase in steps 3-5
What is the Wolff-Chaikoff effect?
High levels of iodine inhibits organification in step 4
(Slows down production of MIT/DIT)
How is activity of thyroid gland assessed?
What would we see for patient’s with hyperthyroidism, Grave’s, and hypothryoidism?
Assessed by radioactive iodine uptake: amount of iodine absorbed over time differs for various conditions and diseases
- Hyperthyroidism: Absorbs 75% iodine over 24 hours
- Grave’s Disease: Absorbs 70% iodine in first six hours
- Normal: Absorbs 25% of iodine over 24 hours
- Hypothyroidism: Absorbs very little over 24 hours
What is the main binding protein of T3 and T4?
What does it prefer?
Thyroxin-binding protein (TBG)
-has affinity for T4
What is the half life of T3 and T4?
T3: 1 day
T4: 6 days
How does a T3 resin test work?
Indirectly assess circulating TBG
- TBG has an affinity for T4 and it out competes T3 for TBG
- More free T3 in the blood as a result
- Resin test can check how much T3 is in the blood, giving us an indirect idea for how much T4 there is
What can we expect from a resin test with an individual who has hyperthyroidism?
- Increased T3 resin uptake
- Increased T4
- TBG stays same
Since there is more total T4, there are even fewer spaces for T3 to bind to TBG –> more free T3 to bind to resin
What can we expect from a resin test with an individual who has hypothyroidism?
- Decreased T3 resin uptake
- Decreased T4
- TBG stays same
Since there is less total T4, there are more spaces for T3 to bind to TBG –> less T3 to bind to resin
What can we expect from a resin test with an individual who has increased TBG?
- Decreased T3 resin uptake
- Increased T4
Since there is more TBG, there will be an increase of binding to both T4 and T3 –> less T3 to bind to resin
What can we expect from a resin test with an individual who has decreased TBG?
- Increased T3 resin uptake
- Decreased T4
Since there is less TBG, there will be a decrease of binding to both T4 and T3 –> more T3 to bind to resin
