The thyroid (L7) Flashcards
Blood supply to the thyroid
Superior from external carotid
Inferior from thyrocervical trunk
Venous drainage of thyroid
Superior, middle, and inferior thyroid veins that all drain into the internal jugular
Innervation of the thyroid
Middle and inferior cervical ganglia of sympathetic nervous system
Follicle of the thyroid
Epithelial cells surrounding a lumen filled with colloid
Major compound of the lumen
Thyroglobulin (TG)
Parafollicular cells (“C” cells)
Produce calcitonin and other proteins maintaining the follicle
Other cell types in the thyroid
Epithelial cells, fibroblasts, lymphocytes, adipocytes
What is the shape of follicular cells when activated by TSH?
Cuboidal
Microvilli
Extend into the colloid to facilitate transport of TG
Where are the parafollicular cells located?
In the basement membrane; no direct contact with the lumen
Two precursors necessary for thyroid hormone synthesis
Thyroglobulin and iodide
Daily dietary intake of iodine that results in thyroid deficiency
Wolf-Chaikoff effect
Intrathyroidal response that assures constancy of iodide storage in the face of changes in dietary iodide intake - increases in iodide intake decreases gland transport and hormone synthesis
How is the Wolf-Chaikoff effect used clinically?
High doses of iodine are used to shut down hormone synthesis in hyperthyroid patients
HPT axis
Hypothalamus: PVN releases TRH
TSH from anterior pituitary
T3/T4 feeds back on hypothalamus and pituitary
Intracellular “thyroid sensor”
Level of T3 in the anterior pituitary
Inhibition of thyroid stimulating hormone
Tonic inhibition by dopamine, somatostatin
T3 formation from T4
Peripherally deiodinated in thyrotropes and brain by type II deiodinase
How many steps in thyroid hormone synthesis are there?
7
NIS cotransporter
Takes up sodium and iodine on the basolateral surface of the follicle cell, “trapping” iodine inside
Thyroid peroxidase
Turns iodide to iodine
Movement of TG during T3/T4 synthesis
Transported from the follicle out the apical surface into the lumen
What is the fate of the iodine transported into the cell?
It leaves the apical membrane and is attached to the tyrosyl residues on TG
Once the tyrosyl residues are iodinated, what happens?
They are conjugated with T4 and T3
Once the TG is conjugated, what occurs?
The compound is transported back into the follicular cell and packaged into an endosome
Once inside the cell, what happens to the T3/T4 conjugated TG?
Proteolysis - TG, MIT, DIT, T3, and T4 released from vesicle
Final step in T3/T4 synthesis
Transport of T3 and T4 across basolateral membrane and release into blood
Thyroxine’s half-life
Long - ~7 days