Effect of iodine excess on TRAIL expression in rats with Hashimoto¬ðs thyroiditis

    ZHANG Yaª²Ping, TIE Liª²Li, ZHANG Nanª²Yan, JI Qiuª²He

    Department of Endocrinology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710033, China, Second Department of Internal Medicine, Second People¬ðs Hospital of Shaanxi Province, Xi¬ðan 710005, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To explore the significance of the expression of TRAIL in the pathogenesis and pathological changes in the situation of iodine excess in rats with experimental autoimmune thyroiditis(EAT). METHODS: Female SD rats were applied as EAT animal models and fed on highª²iodine diets in this study. Immunohistochemical methods were used to detect the expression and distribution of TRAIL in highª²level iodine in EAT rats. RESULTS: The positive rates for TRAIL in thyrocytes of rats increased in the order of normal control group, EAT model group and EAT iodine excess group(P<0.05). Strongly positive immunostained thyroid follicular cells of EAT rats for TRAIL mainly distributed adjacently to infiltrating lymphocytes. Staining of infiltrating lymphocytes for TRAIL was found to be rather weak or even absent. CONCLUSION: High characteristic expression of TRAIL in thyroid follicular cells in EAT rats is significant, especially in the presence of iodine excess, which indicates that highª²iodine diet might induce thyrocyte apoptosis by increasing the expression of TRAIL, thus resulting in thyroid follicle destruction. ......