Thyroid hormone inhibition of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C in rat liver

We investigated the effect of thyroid hormone on phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C activity in rat liver. Thyroidectomy increased the activity of the enzyme. Thyroid hormone (T4, 40 micrograms) administration to thyroidectomized-rats decreased phospholipase C activity. The inhibition induced by thyroid hormone was of a non-competitive type. The higher concentration of Ca2+ strongly inhibited the activity of the enzyme obtained from thyroidectomized-rats' liver in vitro. The diminished activity of the enzyme obtained from thyroxine-treated-thyroidectomized-rats was recovered by pretreatment of the enzyme with EGTA. The activity of the enzyme derived from thyroidectomized-rats was not affected by EGTA treatment. These results suggest that thyroid hormone decreases the activity of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C activity through the mobilization of Ca2+ in the intracellular space.