Iodine Redistribution During Trauma, Sepsis, and Hibernation: An Evolutionarily Conserved Response to Severe Stress

We performed these studies to learn how iodine in the form of free iodide behaves during stress.

Prospective observational trial using samples obtained from human trauma patients and retrospective observational study using remnant samples from human sepsis patients and arctic ground squirrels. Preclinical interventional study using hind-limb ischemia and reperfusion injury in mice.

Level I trauma center emergency room and ICU and animal research laboratories.

Adult human sepsis and trauma patients, wild-caught adult arctic ground squirrels, and sexually mature laboratory mice.

Ischemia and reperfusion injury was induced in mice by temporary application of tourniquet to one hind-limb. Iodide was administered IV just prior to reperfusion.

Free iodide was measured using ion chromatography. Relative to iodide in plasma from normal donors, iodide was increased 17-fold in plasma from trauma patients and 26-fold in plasma from sepsis patients. In arctic ground squirrels, iodide increases over three-fold during hibernation. And during ischemia/reperfusion injury in mice, iodide accumulates in ischemic tissue and reduces both local and systemic tissue damage.

Iodide redistributes during stress and improves outcome after injury. Essential functions of iodide may have contributed to its evolutionary selection and be useful as a therapeutic intervention for human patients.