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

ABSTRACT: 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 methyltransfera

SUBMITTER: Serrano-Nascimento C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5688151 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature