Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 3, 2026
Author Spotlight: In Vivo Assessment of Thyroid Hormone Disruption Using the THAI Mouse Model
Published on: October 6, 2023
Identifying Subpopulations Vulnerable to the Thyroid-Blocking Effects of Perchlorate and Thiocyanate
Jenica McMullen1, Akhgar Ghassabian1,2, Brenda Kohn1,2
1School of Medicine, New York University, New York, New York 10003.
Context:
Common environmental contaminants can disrupt normal thyroid function, which plays essential but varying roles at different ages.
Objective:
To evaluate the relationship of perchlorate, thiocyanate, and nitrate, three sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) inhibitors, and thyroid function in different age-sex-stratified populations.
Design, Setting, Participants, And Intervention:
This was a cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2009 to 2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey evaluating the exposure to perchlorate, thiocyanate, and nitrate in 3151 participants aged 12 to 80.
Main Outcome Measure:
Blood serum free thyroxine (FT4) as both a continuous and categorical variable. We also assessed blood serum thyroid stimulating hormone.
Results:
Controlling for serum cotinine, body mass index, total daily energy consumption, race/ethnicity, and poverty-to-income ratio, for each log unit increase in perchlorate, FT4 decreased by 0.03 ng/dL in both the general population (P = 0.004) and in all women (P = 0.005), and by 0.06 ng/dL in adolescent girls (P = 0.029), corresponding to 4% and 8% decreases relative to median FT4, respectively. For each log unit increase thiocyanate, FT4 decreased by 0.07 ng/dL in adolescent boys (P = 0.003), corresponding to a 9% decrease relative to median FT4, respectively.
Conclusions:
Our results indicate that adolescent boys and girls represent vulnerable subpopulations to the thyroid-blocking effects of NIS symporter inhibitors. These results suggest a valuable screening and intervention opportunity.
More Related Videos
16:02Demonstration of the Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility Tool for Rapid Assessment of Protein Conservation
Published on: February 10, 2023
08:46Dose Uptake of Platinum- and Ruthenium-based Compound Exposure in Zebrafish by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry with Broader Applications
Published on: April 21, 2022
Related Concept Videos
01:27The Periodic Table and Organismal Elements
Periodic Table Provides Information...
00:57The Periodic Table and Organismal Elements
01:36Types of Toxins
Air pollutants, primarily gases, pose significant threats to respiratory health, leading to conditions like hypoxia, lung cancer, and in extreme cases, death.
Environmental pollutants like...
01:20Synthesis and Regulation of Thyroid Hormones
Upon reaching the thyroid gland, TSH stimulates the follicular cells' active uptake of iodide ions from the blood. The ions diffuse to the apical surface of the cells and are oxidized to iodine. The...
01:26Toxic Reactions: Overview
Toxicity falls into two primary categories: local and systemic.
Local toxicity appears at the exposure site, such as protein denaturation caused by caustic substances.
In contrast, systemic toxicity requires the toxic agent's absorption and distribution,...
01:17Antidotes
Specific antidotes operate by inhibiting the enzymes that control biochemical pathways, reducing the production of harmful metabolites.
An example of an antidote is atropine, which counteracts the detrimental effects of cholinesterase inhibitors. It achieves this by deactivating muscarinic receptors,...