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R Docter

Publications and source records attributed to R Docter.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Transport of 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine into the perfused rat liver and subsequent metabolism are inhibited by fasting.

The effects of 48-h fasting on transport of T3 and subsequent metabolism in the isolated perfused rat liver were investigated. Tracer T3 disappearance curves from the recirculating medium consisted of a fast component (FC) and a slow component (SC). Using a two-compartment model, both transport [expressed as the fractional transport rate constant from medium to liver (k21)] and disposal of T3 were calculated. After fasting, k21, total metabolism, and metabolism corrected for differences in mass transfer were diminished, pointing to both decreased transport and metabolism, presumably caused by depletion of liver ATP. Concerning transport, it was shown that only transport into the intracellular liver compartment and not transport to the extracellular liver compartment was decreased after fasting. As for metabolism, T3 glucuronidation was diminished; T3 sulfation and subsequent deiodination were not affected. All mentioned decreased parameters normalized after the addition of a combination of insulin, cortisol, and/or glucose to the medium, possibly by (partially) restoration of cellular energy stores.

Adenosine Triphosphate

The effect of hypothyroidism on Sertoli cell proliferation and differentiation and hormone levels during testicular development in the rat.

In this study we show that 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) treatment of Wistar rats from birth up to day 26 p.p. retards the morphological differentiation of Sertoli cells, and prolongs the proliferation of these cells up to day 30. Sertoli cell numbers per testis, determined at day 36, were increased by 84% compared to controls. PTU treatment increased serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels and reduced serum levels of thyroxine (T4) from 5 days onwards, indicative of severe hypothyroidism. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were reduced from day 5 to 9, normal at day 12 and 16, and reduced again from day 20 to 36. Inhibin levels were decreased from day 9 to 20 and increased at 36 days of age. The increase in the number of Sertoli cells per testis in PTU treated rats, as has been reported in the present study, is likely to be responsible for the increased testis size observed by other groups (1) in these animals, when adult.

Aging

Thyroxine and 3,3',5-triiodothyronine are glucuronidated in rat liver by different uridine diphosphate-glucuronyltransferases.

Male Wistar rats were treated with 50 mg 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (TCB)/kg BW or vehicle. After 4 days, the livers were isolated and perfused for 90 min with 2 nM [125I]T3 or 10 nM [125I]T4 in Krebs-Ringer medium containing 1% albumin. Deiodination and conjugation products and remaining substrates were determined in bile and medium samples by Sephadex LH-20 chromatography and HPLC. TCB treatment did not affect hepatic uptake and metabolism of T3. However, biliary excretion of T4 glucuronide was strongly increased by TCB, resulting in an augmented T4 disappearance from the medium, although initial hepatic uptake of T4 was not altered. Measurement of the microsomal UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UDPGT) activities confirmed that T4 UDPGT was induced by TCB, whereas T3 glucuronidation was unaffected. T3 UDPGT activity showed a discontinuous variation, which completely matched the genetic heterogeneity in androsterone glucuronidation in Wistar rats. These results indicate that different isozymes catalyze the glucuronidation of T3 and T4.

Animals

Development and use of a mathematical two-pool model of distribution and metabolism of 3,3',5-triiodothyronine in a recirculating rat liver perfusion system: albumin does not play a role in cellular transport.

To describe the T3 kinetics in a recirculating rat liver perfusion system, we have developed a mathematical two-pool model consisting of medium and liver. It appeared that all parameters of the model could be fully resolved by using the time-dependent disappearance of radioactive T3 (2 nM) from the medium only. The model calculates the T3 medium pool, the T3 liver pool, and the amount of hormone metabolized at different times after the start of the perfusion. To check the validity of the model, metabolism was also estimated from the appearance of labeled metabolites (glucuronides, sulfates, and I-) in the medium and the cumulative excretion of T3 and metabolites into the bile. The medium pool was also estimated by the product of medium volume and remaining T3 concentration, and the liver pool as the amount of T3 at time zero minus medium pool minus T3 metabolized). These results were in excellent agreement with the predicted values from the model. Taking the metabolites appearing in medium and bile together, about 38% of the total amount of T3 metabolized during 60 min was converted into T3 glucuronide, 12% into T3 sulfate, and 48% into I-, respectively, while about 3% was excreted in the bile unaltered. The results show that not all T3 transported to the liver is being metabolized, but part is bound outside the cellular compartment. This latter pool of T3 is dependent on the albumin concentration in the medium. The amount of T3 metabolized is solely determined by the free T3 concentration and is independent of total T3 or albumin concentration in the medium.

Animals

Receptor scintigraphy with a radioiodinated somatostatin analogue: radiolabeling, purification, biologic activity, and in vivo application in animals.

Radioiodinated Tyr-3-octreotide, a somatostatin analogue, is a useful ligand for the in vitro detection of somatostatin receptors. In this study, we have investigated the possible in vivo application of this radioligand in the detection of somatostatin receptor-bearing tumors by scintigraphy. The specific somatostatin-like biologic activity of radioiodinated Tyr-3-octreotide was confirmed in vitro: (a) radioiodinated Tyr-3-octreotide competes in the nanomolar range with specific receptor binding of somatostatin to suspended human meningioma membranes and (b) the secretion of growth hormone by cultured rat pituitary cells was similarly inhibited by iodinated Tyr-3-octreotide and somatostatin. In rats, intravenously injected 123I-Tyr-3-octreotide is rapidly cleared from the circulation mainly by the liver. Although this rapid clearance limits the amount of tracer available for somatostatin receptor-bearing tumors, the advantage of this rapid clearance is that the background level is rapidly reduced in favor of scintigraphic imaging of these tumors. Pancreatic tumors in rats were localized by scintigraphy after intravenous injection of 123I-Tyr-3-octreotide.

Animals

[The effect of immunoscintigraphy with monoclonal antibodies on assays of hormones and tumor markers. This is not the end of the matter!].

The use of monoclonal antibodies in medicine for in-vivo diagnostic methods and for therapeutic purposes will increase in the future. Although monoclonal antibodies possess a high specificity, the animal origin of these antibodies remains a problem. Repeated administration of animal monoclonal antibodies (in vivo) may induce the formation of human antibodies against these monoclonal antibodies. Because animal monoclonal antibodies are also used in laboratory assays (in vitro), the presence of human antibodies against these animal monoclonal antibodies may cause spuriously elevated or depressed results of these assays. The clinician should be alert to this possibility. A case history is presented to demonstrate the problem.

Aged

Congenital hypothyroidism and partial thyroid hormone unresponsiveness of the pituitary in a patient with congenital thyroxine binding albumin elevation.

We describe a girl who presented at the age of 6 weeks with cardiogenic shock due to congenital hypothyroidism (serum thyroxine (T4) less than 12 nmol/l). Thyroxine replacement therapy was instituted. In spite of high total serum T4 levels, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) serum values remained elevated. The raised serum T4 levels were the result of congenital elevation of thyroid binding albumin (TBA). Toxic doses of both T4 and triiodothyronine (T3) normalized the elevated TSH levels indicating that the pituitary is responsive to thyroid hormone, albeit at a higher threshold. In patients with congenital TBA elevation and an altered T4 pituitary response requiring thyroid replacement therapy, the measurement of serum free T4 levels is the parameter of choice to monitor treatment.

Congenital Hypothyroidism

Effects of propylthiouracil on the biliary clearance of thyroxine (T4) in rats: decreased excretion of 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine glucuronide and increased excretion of 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine glucuronide and T4 sulfate.

The liver metabolizes T4 by deiodination and conjugation to T4 glucuronide (T4G), but little information exists about the formation of T4 sulfate (T4S) in vivo. We have examined the excretion of T4G, T4S, T3 and rT3 glucuronide (T3G and rT3G) in bile, collected under pentobarbital anesthesia 0-8 h or 17-18 h after iv [125I]T4 injection to control and 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU)-treated rats. Radioactivity in bile, plasma, feces, and urine was analyzed by Sephadex LH-20 chromatography and HPLC. PTU induced a 2-fold increase in the biliary excretion of total radioactivity (26.6% vs. 15.0% dose between 0-8 h; 2.0% vs. 1.0% dose between 17-18 h). Biliary metabolites, 17-18 h after T4 injection, in control vs. PTU rats amounted to (percent dose): T4G, 0.44 vs. 0.75; T3G, 0.19 vs. 0.07; rT3G, 0.02 vs. 0.15; and T4S, 0.06 vs. 0.32. Similar results were obtained for control rats when bile was collected between 7-8 h after iv T4. The excretion rate of T3G was lower and that of rT3G higher when bile was continuously collected for 8 h immediately after T4 administration, probably due to prolonged experimental stress. However, regardless of the period of bile collection, PTU induced a more than 24-fold decrease in the T3G/rT3G ratio and a 5-fold increase in T4S excretion. In the animals killed 18 h after T4 injection, PTU treatment increased plasma T4 retention by 50%, reduced urinary I- excretion by 74%, and increased fecal radioactivity by 47%. No conjugates were detected in feces, and the distribution of fecal T4:T3:rT3 was 70:18:2 in control and 68:7:6 in PTU-treated rats. The results indicate that 1) the glucuronidative clearance of T4 is not affected by PTU; 2) the T3G/rT3G ratio in bile is a sensitive indicator of type I deiodinase inhibition; 3) T4 undergoes significant sulfation in rats in vivo, and 4) biliary excretion of T4S is enhanced if its type I deiodination is inhibited.

Animals

Hyperprealbuminemia, euthyroid hyperthyroxinemia, Zollinger-Ellison-like syndrome and hypercorticism in a pancreatic endocrine tumour.

Prealbumin, one of the main thyroxine transport proteins, has recently been shown to be a valuable immunohistochemical marker of neuroendocrine tumours. We report the case of a multisecretory pancreatic endocrine tumour whose prealbumin secretion was so high that it produced a peak on routine serum protein electrophoresis and induced a euthyroid hyperthyroxinemia. The maximal binding capacity of prealbumin for thyroxine was indeed markedly increased, whereas its affinity for this hormone was normal. The tumour was associated with gastric hyperacidity and hypergastrinemia thereby evoking a Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. The secretin stimulation test and gastrin tumoural immunohistochemistry were, however, negative. We suggest that the concomitant tumoural production of gastrin-releasing peptide was responsible for the gastric hyperacidity and hypergastrinemia. This hormone probably also accounted for a moderate hypercorticism.

Adrenocortical Hyperfunction

Three-compartmental analysis of effects of D-propranolol on thyroid hormone kinetics.

Tracer thyroxine (T4), 3.3',5-triiodothyronine (T3), and 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine (rT3) kinetic studies were performed in normal T4 substituted subjects before and during oral D-propranolol treatment to determine whether changes in thyroid hormone metabolism in a propranolol-induced low-T3 syndrome result from inhibition of 5'-deiodination or inhibition of transport of iodothyronines into tissues. Data were analyzed according to a three-compartmental model of distribution and metabolism. T4 plasma appearance rate decreased by 16% (P less than 0.01), reflecting a decreased intestinal absorption of orally administered T4 during propranolol. Serum T4 and free T4 levels increased significantly by 14%, whereas T4 metabolic clearance rate (MCR) was lowered by 26% (P less than 0.001). No changes were observed in size of the three T4 compartments or in fractional and mass transfer rates of T4 from plasma to the rapidly (REP) and slowly (SEP) equilibrating pools. Serum T3, free T3, T3 plasma pool, T3 mass transfer rate to REP and SEP, and the T3 pool masses were all significantly decreased during propranolol to a similar extent as the T3 plasma production rate (PR). T3 MCR decreased by 14% (P less than 0.05). Serum total and free rT3 increased, whereas the rT3 MCR was substantially lowered during propranolol (P less than 0.001). The rT3 plasma pool, rT3 REP and SEP, and the mass transfer rates to REP and SEP increased, whereas no alterations were observed in rT3 PR and fractional transfer rates of rT3 to REP and SEP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult

Causes and effects of the low T3 syndrome during caloric deprivation and non-thyroidal illness: an overview.

The increased serum reverse T3 and decreased T3 during caloric deprivation and non-thyroidal illness is caused by decreased T3 production (with intact degradation) and reversed T3 degradation (with intact production) respectively. These changes can ensue from two mechanisms i.e. decreased 5'D of T4 and of reverse T3 (possibly caused by a decrease in naturally occurring reducing agents) or by decreased transport of T4 and reverse T3 into the liver (possibly caused by decreased ATP concentrations in the liver). The effects of the low T3 syndrome at the tissue level are in many instances comparable to those seen in hypothyroidism. The effects lead to conservation of energy and decrease of protein breakdown. These effects are considered to constitute a beneficial adaptative mechanism in situations in which the organism is endangered. There is no evidence that treatment of patients with the low T3 syndrome with thyroid hormones is of any benefit. Knowledge at the present moment suggests that administration of thyroid hormones during caloric deprivation or non-thyroidal illness should be avoided.

Food Deprivation

Cellular and humoral immunity in patients with hyperthyroid Graves' disease before, during and after antithyroid drug treatment.

Many reports of thyroid stimulating immunoglobulins (TSI) in relation to treatment of Graves' disease have been published and with variable results concerning prediction of permanent remission or relapse after therapy. A range of methods has been used and little has been published measuring TSI by using their ability to stimulate cyclic AMP production in human thyroid cells in monolayer culture. We therefore conducted a prospective study of the predictive value of such an assay in patients with hyperthyroid Graves' disease before, during and after treatment of one year with methimazole and thyroid hormone substitution. Furthermore, the possible relationship between activated suppressor T lymphocytes and TSI in patients followed before, during and after medical therapy has been studied. Patients were divided into two groups; group I, 15 patients, who stayed in remission and group II, 14, who relapsed during the first year after discontinuation of therapy. Mean TSI activity did not differ between the two groups before and during the first half year of medication. In the second half year of treatment, however, mean TSI activity was significantly lower in group I. TSI activity at the end of treatment appeared to have no value in predicting final outcome. Increased TSI activity in group II during treatment was reflected in an increased pertechnetate thyroidal uptake as compared to that in group I. There was no relationship between changes in TSI activity and T cell subsets (Leu 1, 2a, 3a). We found no difference in T lymphocytes between the two groups at any time during observation. Subsets of T lymphocytes in both patient groups did not differ from normal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent

Active transport of iodothyronines into human cultured fibroblasts.

Thyroid hormone uptake into human cultured fibroblasts was studied using 2-min incubations with labeled iodothyronines. The results indicate the presence of an active T4 uptake process with two saturable sites with apparent Km values of 1.9 and 141 nM, respectively, and an active T3 uptake process with two saturable sites with Km values of 29 and 650 nM. The uptake of both hormones was energy dependent, i.e. inhibited by KCN or by incubation of the cells in the absence of glucose. By analogy with similar findings in rat hepatocytes we postulate that the high affinity systems represent active transport of thyroid hormone into the cell. Preincubation of the cells with 2 mM ouabain resulted in a decrease in the uptake of both T3 and T4, suggesting that a sodium gradient is necessary for transport. Similar to that in rat hepatocytes, uptake of T3 was inhibited by high concentrations of T4, and uptake of T4 was inhibited by high concentrations of T3. These data indicate that regulation of thyroid hormone uptake at the level of the plasma membrane may be operative in humans.

Biological Transport, Active

Handling of iodothyronines by the liver and kidney in patients with chronic liver disease.

Possible arterio-venous gradients of T4, T3, rT3 and 3,3'-diiodothyronine (3,3'-T2) across the liver and the kidneys were measured in 9 patients with varying degrees of liver failure undergoing diagnostic catheterization. Plasma iodothyronine levels were measured in peripheral, hepatic and renal veins before and at 10-min intervals until 60 min after iv injection of 400 micrograms of TRH. In 2 patients estimated hepatic plasma flow and effective renal plasma flow were determined as well. In these 2 patients, no significant differences between iodothyronine levels in arterial and peripheral venous plasma were found. T4 and T3 levels were not significantly different between peripheral, renal and hepatic veins. Hepatic vein rT3 and 3,3'-T2 concentrations were 10.7 +/- 8.3% (mean +/- SD, P less than 0.005) and 36 +/- 18% (P less than 0.001) lower than those in the peripheral vein (N = 9). Renal vein rT3 was just (6.2 +/- 7.5%, P less than 0.05) lower than rT3 in peripheral vein, whereas 3,3'-T2 was not different between the two veins. Estimates of hepatic and renal plasma flow were in agreement with values from the literature. On the basis of these data approximate hepatic clearance rates of 110 and 380 1/day for rT3 and 3,3'-T2 and a renal clearance rate of about 35 1/day for rT3 were calculated. Sixty min after TRH, plasma T3 was increased to 147 +/- 56% (P less than 0.05) and 3,3'-T2 in peripheral plasma was increased to 142 +/- 36% (P less than 0.025), whereas plasma T4 and rT3 did not change.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult