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Updated: Aug 9, 2026
An Ex vivo Culture System to Study Thyroid Development
Published on: June 6, 2014
Cell-to-cell communication in cultured rat thyroid monolayer cells is inhibited dose-dependently by methimazole
H Asakawa1, H Yamasaki, T Hanafusa
1Second Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.
Insights
Methimazole inhibits the development of cell-to-cell communication in rat thyrocytes. This drug dose-dependently suppressed gap junctional communication, crucial for thyroid function.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Cell Biology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Gap junctional communication is vital for coordinated cellular function in endocrine tissues.
- Thyrocytes, the cells of the thyroid gland, rely on intercellular communication for hormone synthesis and regulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of methimazole on gap junctional communication in cultured rat thyrocytes.
- To determine if thyroid-stimulating hormone influences this communication pathway.
Main Methods:
- Monolayer culture of rat thyrocytes.
- Measurement of intercellular fluorescence redistribution after photobleaching to assess gap junctional communication.
- Exposure of thyrocytes to varying concentrations of methimazole and thyroid-stimulating hormone.
Main Results:
- Cell-to-cell communication among thyrocytes developed progressively during culture, observed in approximately 60% of cells after 8 days.
- Methimazole significantly inhibited fluorescence recovery in a dose-dependent manner, indicating suppressed gap junctional communication.
- Thyroid-stimulating hormone did not affect the observed fluorescence recovery.
Conclusions:
- Methimazole inhibits the development of gap junctional communication in rat thyrocytes.
- This inhibitory effect is dose-dependent and specific to methimazole, not thyroid-stimulating hormone.
- Findings suggest a novel mechanism by which methimazole may impact thyroid function through altered intercellular communication.
Abstract:
We performed monolayer culture of rat thyrocytes and studied gap junctional communication by measuring intercellular fluorescence redistribution after photobleaching. Cell-to-cell communication among thyrocytes gradually developed during the culture. This communication was demonstrated in approximately 60 percent of the cells cultured for 8 days, while it could not be detected in the remaining 40 percent of the cells even after longer culture. When thyrocytes were cultured in the presence of methimazole, the fluorescence recovery after photobleaching was inhibited dose-dependently. Thyroid-stimulating hormone did not affect the fluorescence recovery. We provided, for the first time, that methimazole inhibited the development of cell-to-cell communication of thyrocytes dose-dependently.
