Abstract
BACKGROUND: Perchlorate (ClO4(-)) is an environmental contaminant known to disrupt the thyroid axis of many terrestrial and aquatic species. ClO4(-) competitively inhibits iodide uptake into the thyroid at the sodium/iodide symporter and disrupts hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis homeostasis in rodents. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the proposed mode of action for ClO4(-)-induced rat HPT axis perturbations using a biologically based dose-response (BBDR) model of the HPT axis coupled with a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model of ClO4(-). METHODS: We configured a BBDR-HPT/ClO4(-) model to describe competitive inhibition of thyroidal uptake of dietary iodide by ClO4(-) and used it to simulate published adult rat drinking water studies. We compared model-predicted serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and total thyroxine (TT4) concentrations with experimental observations reported in these ClO4(-) drinking water studies. RESULTS: The BBDR-HPT/ClO4(-) model failed to predict the ClO4(-)-induced onset of disturbances in the HPT axis. Using ClO4(-) inhibition of dietary iodide uptake into the thyroid, the model underpredicted both the rapid decrease in serum TT4 concentrations and the rise in serum TSH concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: Assuming only competitive inhibition of thyroidal uptake of dietary iodide, BBDR-HPT/ClO4(-) model calculations were inconsistent with the rapid decrease in serum TT4 and the corresponding increase in serum TSH. Availability of bound iodide in the thyroid gland governed the rate of hormone secretion from the thyroid. ClO4(-) is translocated into the thyroid gland, where it may act directly or indirectly on thyroid hormone synthesis/secretion in the rat. The rate of decline in serum TT4 in these studies after 1 day of treatment with ClO4(-) appeared consistent with a reduction in thyroid hormone production/secretion. This research demonstrates the utility of a biologically based model to evaluate a proposed mode of action for ClO4(-) in a complex biological process.