Caroline Serrano-Nascimento

The Acute Inhibitory Effect of Iodide Excess on Sodium/Iodide Symporter Expression and Activity Involves the PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway

Iodide (I(-)) is an irreplaceable constituent of thyroid hormones and an important regulator of thyroid function, because high concentrations of I(-) down-regulate sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) expression and function. In thyrocytes, activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) cascade also inhibits NIS expression and function. Because I(-) excess and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway induce similar inhibitory effects on NIS expression, we aimed to study whether the PI3K/Akt cascade mediates the acute and rapid inhibitory effect of I(-) excess on NIS expression/activity. Here, we reported that the treatment of PCCl3 cells with I(-) excess increased Akt phosphorylation under normal or TSH/insulin-starving conditions. I(-) stimulated Akt phosphorylation in a PI3K-dependent manner, because the use of PI3K inhibitors (wortmannin or 2-(4-Morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one) abrogated the induction of I(-) effect. Moreover, I(-) inhibitory effect on NIS expression and function were abolished when the cells were previously treated with specific inhibitors of PI3K or Akt (Akt1/2 kinase inhibitor). Importantly, we also found that the effect of I(-) on NIS expression involved the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Using the fluorogenic probes dihydroethidium and mitochondrial superoxide indicator (MitoSOX Red), we observed that I(-) excess increased ROS production in thyrocytes and determined that mitochondria were the source of anion superoxide. Furthermore, the ROS scavengers N-acetyl cysteine and 2-phenyl-1,2-benzisoselenazol-3-(2H)-one blocked the effect of I(-) on Akt phosphorylation. Overall, our data demonstrated the involvement of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway as a novel mediator of the I(-)-induced thyroid autoregulation, linking the role of thyroid oxidative state to the Wolff-Chaikoff effect.

Posttranscriptional regulation of sodium-iodide symporter mRNA expression in the rat thyroid gland by acute iodide administration

Iodide is an important regulator of thyroid activity. Its excess elicits the Wolff-Chaikoff effect, characterized by an acute suppression of thyroid hormone synthesis, which has been ascribed to serum TSH reduction or TGF-beta increase and production of iodolipids in the thyroid. These alterations take hours/days to occur, contrasting with the promptness of Wolff-Chaikoff effect. We investigated whether acute iodide administration could trigger events that precede those changes, such as reduction of sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) mRNA abundance and adenylation, and if perchlorate treatment could counteract them. Rats subjected or not to methylmercaptoimidazole treatment (0.03%) received NaI (2,000 microg/0.5 ml saline) or saline intraperitoneally and were killed 30 min up to 24 h later. Another set of animals was treated with iodide and perchlorate, in equimolar doses. NIS mRNA content was evaluated by Northern blotting and real-time PCR, and NIS mRNA poly(A) tail length by rapid amplification of cDNA ends-poly(A) test (RACE-PAT). We observed that NIS mRNA abundance and poly(A) tail length were significantly reduced in all periods of iodide treatment. Perchlorate reversed these effects, indicating that iodide was the agent that triggered the modifications observed. Since the poly(A) tail length of mRNAs is directly associated with their stability and translation efficiency, we can assume that the rapid decay of NIS mRNA abundance observed was due to a reduction of its stability, a condition in which its translation could be impaired. Our data show for the first time that iodide regulates NIS mRNA expression at posttranscriptional level, providing a new mechanism by which iodide exerts its autoregulatory effect on thyroid.

Triiodothyronine Acutely Stimulates Glucose Transport into L6 Muscle Cells Without Increasing Surface GLUT4, GLUT1, or GLUT3

BACKGROUND Thyroid hormones (THs) act genomically to stimulate glucose transport by elevating glucose transporter (Slc2a) expression and glucose utilization by cells. However, nongenomic effects of THs are now emerging. Here, we assess how triiodothyronine (T(3)) acutely affects glucose transport and the content of GLUT4, GLUT1, and GLUT3 at the surface of muscle cells, and possible interactions between T(3) and insulin action. METHODS Differentiated L6 myotubes transfected with myc-tagged Slc2a4 (L6-GLUT4myc) or Slc2a1 (L6-GLUT1myc) and wild-type L6 myotubes were studied in the following conditions: control, hypothyroid (Tx), Tx plus T(3), Tx plus insulin, and Tx plus insulin and T(3). RESULTS Glucose uptake and GLUT4 content at the cell surface decreased in the Tx group relative to controls. T(3) treatment for 30 minutes increased glucose transport into L6-GLUT4myc cells without altering surface GLUT4 content, which increased only thereafter. The total amount of GLUT4 protein remained unchanged among the groups studied. The surface GLUT1 content of L6-GLUT1myc cells also remained unaltered after T(3) treatment; however, in these cells glucose transport was not stimulated by T(3). In wild-type L6 cells, although T(3) treatment increased the total amount of GLUT3, it did not change the surface GLUT3 content. Moreover, within 30 minutes, T(3) stimulation of glucose uptake was additive to that of insulin in L6-GLUT4myc cells. As expected, insulin elevated surface GLUT4 content and glucose uptake. However, interestingly, surface GLUT4 content remained unchanged or even dropped with T(3) plus insulin. CONCLUSIONS These data reveal that T(3) rapidly increases glucose uptake in L6-GLUT4myc cells, which, at least for 30 minutes, did not depend on an increment in GLUT4 at the cell surface yet potentiates insulin action. We propose that this rapid T(3) effect involves activation of GLUT4 transporters at the cell surface, but cannot discount the involvement of an unknown GLUT.

New insights about the posttranscriptional mechanisms triggered by iodide excess on sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) expression in PCCl3 cells.

Iodide excess acutely downregulates NIS mRNA expression, as already demonstrated. PCCl3 cells treated or not with NaI, NaI+NaClO(4) or NaI+Methimazole, for 30 min to 24 h, were used to further explore how iodide reduces NIS gene expression. NIS mRNA expression was evaluated by Real-Time PCR; its poly(A) tail length, by RACE-PAT; its translation rate, by polysome profile; total NIS content, by Western blotting. NIS mRNA decay rate was evaluated in actinomycin-D-treated cells, incubated with or without NaI for 0-6 h. Iodide treatment caused a reduction in NIS mRNA expression, half-life, poly(A) tail length, recruitment to ribosomes, as well as NIS protein expression. Perchlorate, but not methimazole, prevented these effects. Therefore, reduced poly(A) tail length of NIS mRNA seems to be related to its decreased half-life, in addition to its translation impairment. These data provide new insights about the molecular mechanisms involved in the rapid and posttranscriptional inhibitory effect of iodide on NIS expression.

Thyroid hormone reduces inflammatory cytokines improving glycaemia control in alloxan-induced diabetic wistar rats.

This study aimed at evaluating whether thyroid hormone treatment could improve glycaemia and insulin response in alloxan‐induced diabetic rats by altering cytokine expression in the skeletal muscle and epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) as well as altering inflammatory cell infiltration in eWAT.

Iodide treatment acutely increases pendrin (SLC26A4) mRNA expression in the rat thyroid and the PCCl3 thyroid cell line by transcriptional mechanisms

Iodine is a critical element involved in thyroid hormone synthesis. Its efflux into the follicular lumen is thought to occur, in part, through pendrin at the apical membrane of thyrocytes. This study attempted to investigate whether iodide administration affects SLC26A4 mRNA expression in rat thyroid and in PCCl3 cells. Rats and cells were treated or not with NaI from 30 min up to 48 h. One group was concomitantly treated with sodium perchlorate. SLC26A4 mRNA expression was also investigated in PCCl3 cells treated with actinomycin D prior to NaI treatment. Iodide administration significantly increased SLC26A4 mRNA content in both models. The simultaneous administration of NaI and perchlorate, as well as the treatment of PCCl3 cells with actinomycin D prevented this effect, indicating that intracellular iodide is essential for this event, which appears to be triggered by transcriptional mechanisms. These data show that intracellular iodide rapidly upregulates SLC26A4 mRNA expression.

Iodide excess regulates its own efflux: a possible involvement of pendrin

Adequate iodide supply and metabolism are essential for thyroid hormones synthesis. In thyrocytes, iodide uptake is mediated by the sodium-iodide symporter, but several proteins appear to be involved in iodide efflux. Previous studies demonstrated that pendrin is able to mediate apical efflux of iodide in thyrocytes. Acute iodide excess transiently impairs thyroid hormone synthesis, a phenomenon known as the Wolff-Chaikoff effect. Although the escape from this inhibitory effect is not completely understood, it has been related to the inhibition of sodium-iodide symporter-mediated iodide uptake. However, the effects of iodide excess on iodide efflux have not been characterized. Herein, we investigated the consequences of iodide excess on pendrin abundance, subcellular localization, and iodide efflux in rat thyroid PCCl3 cells. Our results indicate that iodide excess increases pendrin abundance and plasma membrane insertion after 24 h of treatment. Moreover, iodide excess increases pendrin half-life. Finally, iodide exposure also increases iodide efflux from PCCl3 cells. In conclusion, these data suggest that pendrin may have an important role in mediating iodide efflux in thyrocytes, especially under conditions of iodide excess.

Hypothyroidism decreases proinsulin gene expression and the attachment of its mRNA and eEF1A protein to the actin cytoskeleton of INS-1E cells

The actions of thyroid hormone (TH) on pancreatic beta cells have not been thoroughly explored, with current knowledge being limited to the modulation of insulin secretion in response to glucose, and beta cell viability by regulation of pro-mitotic and pro-apoptotic factors. Therefore, the effects of TH on proinsulin gene expression are not known. This led us to measure: a) proinsulin mRNA expression, b) proinsulin transcripts and eEF1A protein binding to the actin cytoskeleton, c) actin cytoskeleton arrangement, and d) proinsulin mRNA poly(A) tail length modulation in INS-1E cells cultured in different media containing: i) normal fetal bovine serum - FBS (control); ii) normal FBS plus 1 µM or 10 nM T3, for 12 h, and iii) FBS depleted of TH for 24 h (Tx). A decrease in proinsulin mRNA content and attachment to the cytoskeleton were observed in hypothyroid (Tx) beta cells. The amount of eEF1A protein anchored to the cytoskeleton was also reduced in hypothyroidism, and it is worth mentioning that eEF1A is essential to attach transcripts to the cytoskeleton, which might modulate their stability and rate of translation. Proinsulin poly(A) tail length and cytoskeleton arrangement remained unchanged in hypothyroidism. T3 treatment of control cells for 12 h did not induce any changes in the parameters studied. The data indicate that TH is important for proinsulin mRNA expression and translation, since its total amount and attachment to the cytoskeleton are decreased in hypothyroid beta cells, providing evidence that effects of TH on carbohydrate metabolism also include the control of proinsulin gene expression.

Triiodothyronine (T3) induces proinsulin gene expression by activating PI3K: possible roles for GSK-3β and the transcriptional factor PDX-1.

Thyroid hormone (TH) activates PI3K and Akt, leading to glucose uptake in rat skeletal muscle cells and proliferation of insulinoma cells, respectively. However, TH actions on pancreatic beta cells have been little explored, which lead us to evaluate the TH eff ects on proinsulin gene expression, and the involvement of PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway, and a transcriptional factor for insulin (PDX-1). INS-1E cells were sorted into 3 groups: control and TH-depleted treated or not with T3 for 30 min. Cells were also previously treated with actinomycin D (ActD), cycloheximide (CHX), wortmannin or Akt inhibitor. Proinsulin mRNA expression was evaluated by real time PCR, and pGSK-3β and PDX-1 protein content was analyzed by Western blotting. TH depletion decreased proinsulin mRNA content, which was restored after acute T3 treatment. ActD, CHX and wortmannin, but not Akt inhibitor, prevented the rapid stimulatory eff ect of T3 on proinsulin mRNA expression. TH depletion did not affect the phosphorylated GSK-3β and PDX-1 protein content; but T3 treatment led to an increase in the content of these proteins. These data indicate that T3 acutely increases proinsulin mRNA expression, by mechanisms which depends on the activation of PI3K, but not of Akt, and may involve the inactivation of GSK-3β by phosphorylation. Since GSK-3β enhances PDX-1 degradation rate, the GSK-3β inactivation could explain the increase of PDX-1 content in T3-treated cells. Considering that PDX-1 is one of the most important transcriptional factors for proinsulin gene expression, its enhancement may underlie the increased proinsulin mRNA content acutely induced by T3.

Maternal Exposure to Iodine Excess Throughout Pregnancy and Lactation Induces Hypothyroidism in Adult Male Rat Offspring

This study aimed to investigate the consequences of maternal exposure to iodine excess (IE; 0.6 mg NaI/L) throughout pregnancy and lactation on the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis of the male offspring in adulthood. Maternal IE exposure increased hypothalamic Trh mRNA expression and pituitary Tsh expression and secretion in the adult male offspring. Moreover, the IE-exposed offspring rats presented reduced thyroid hormones levels, morphological alterations in the thyroid follicles, increased thyroid oxidative stress and decreased expression of thyroid differentiation markers (Tshr, Nis, Tg, Tpo, Mct8) and thyroid transcription factors (Nkx2.1, Pax8). Finally, the data presented here strongly suggest that epigenetic mechanisms, as increased DNA methylation, augmented DNA methyltransferases expression, hypermethylation of histone H3, hypoaceylation of histones H3 and H4, increased expression/activity of histone deacetylases and decreased expression/activity of histone acetyltransferases are involved in the repression of thyroid gene expression in the adult male offspring. In conclusion, our results indicate that rat dams’ exposure to IE during pregnancy and lactation induces primary hypothyroidism and triggers several epigenetic changes in the thyroid gland of their male offspring in adulthood.