Endocrinology, Vol 124, 740-745, Copyright © 1989 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Increased plasma 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine sulfate in rats with inhibited type I iodothyronine deiodinase activity, as measured by radioimmunoassay

SJ Rooda, E Kaptein, M Rutgers and TJ Visser
Department of Internal Medicine III, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

In contrast to the glucuronide conjugate, T3 sulfate (T3S) undergoes rapid deiodinative degradation in the liver and accumulates in rats and rat hepatocyte cultures if type I iodothyronine deiodinase activity is inhibited. We here report the RIA of plasma T3S in rats treated with the antithyroid drugs propylthiouracil (PTU) or methimazole (MMI), of which only PTU inhibits type I deiodinase. Male Wistar rats were treated acutely by ip injection with 1 mg PTU or MMI/100 g BW and subsequently for 4 days by twice daily injections with these drugs together with 0.5 microgram T4 or 0.25 microgram T3/100 g BW. Blood was obtained 4 h after the last injection, and plasma T4, rT3, T3, and T3S were determined by RIA and compared with pretreatment values. Serum concentrations (mean +/- SEM; nanomoles per liter) in untreated rats were: T4, 51 +/- 1; T3, 1.37 +/- 0.03; T3S, 0.09 +/- 0.01; and rT3, 0.03 +/- 0.002. Serum T3 was decreased, and T3S and rT3 were increased by acute PTU treatment [T3, 1.16 +/- 0.05 (P less than 0.01); T3S, 0.33 +/- 0.04 (P less than 0.001); rT3, 0.27 +/- 0.02 (P less than 0.001)], but unaffected by acute MMI treatment (T3, 1.37 +/- 0.05; T3S, 0.09 +/- 0.01; rT3, 0.02 +/- 0.003). In T4-treated rats, serum T3 was decreased and T4, T3S, and rT3 were increased by PTU vs. MMI [T4, 86 +/- 5 vs. 58 +/- 4 (P less than 0.001); T3, 0.51 +/- 0.07 vs. 0.88 +/- 0.06 (P less than 0.001); T3S, 0.38 +/- 0.03 vs. 0.12 +/- 0.01 (P less than 0.001); rT3, 0.86 +/- 0.19 vs. 0.08 +/- 0.01 (P less than 0.005)]. In T3- substituted rats T3S was increased by PTU vs. MMI (1.09 +/- 0.13 vs. 0.25 +/- 0.03; P less than 0.001). The T3S/T3 ratio in the PTU-treated T3 -replaced rats (0.60 +/- 0.09) was in agreement with that determined by HPLC of serum radioactivity in animals that in addition to this treatment also received about 10 microCi [125I]T3 with the last two injections (0.92 +/- 0.13). In conclusion, this investigation demonstrates the feasibility of the measurement of serum T3S by RIA. Our findings confirm previous observations with radioactive isotopes, suggesting that sulfation is an important pathway for the metabolism of T3 in rats. Analogous to rT3, the accumulation of T3S in PTU-treated rats indicates that this conjugate is metabolized predominantly by type I deiodination.

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