Multicompartmental analysis of triiodothyronine kinetics in hypothyroid patients treated orally or intravenously with triiodothyronine.
Kinetic studies were performed with i.v. 125I T3 in four athyreotic women on two occasions each, once while they were taking oral T3 (30 micrograms T3 every 12 h) and again while on i.v. T3 replacement (same dosage schedule). The kinetic data were analyzed by a 7-compartment model, representing the plasma volume, the fast and slow peripheral exchange compartments, the iodide pool (as a delay compartment prior to appearance in the urine), the intestine (as a delay compartment before appearance in the feces), and the urine and feces. Modeling was done by the SAAM methodology. All data sets, and also the mean data treated as though they were data from a single subject, were fitted for the two limit solutions in which all metabolism was assumed to be in one or the other of the exchange compartments. The mean data set was also fitted to a solution in which limits were imposed on the excretion parameters and the partition of metabolism between the 2 peripheral exchange compartments was estimated. We found that steady-state parameters for removal of T3 from the circulation (the MCRs and DRs) were increased during the i.v. T3 replacement period compared with the oral replacement period, especially in the fast exchange compartment. Measured serum stable T3 levels (RIA) were lower in the i.v. than in the oral study, both at 8 and at 12 h after the most recent T3 dose. These values corresponded to similar differences in the circulating T3 levels projected from the model, although the T3 values projected from the model were greater than the measured T3 levels for unknown reasons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)