Tributyltin changes the thyroid gland morphology of male rats

Paula Rodrigues Pereira; Romulo Medina de Mattos; Celia Yelimar Palmero; Rodrigo Fortunato; Jones Bernardes Gracelli; Denise Pires de Carvalho; Luiz Eurico Nasciutti; Leandro Miranda-Alves

doi:10.1530/endoabs.32.P499

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Endocrine Abstracts (2013) 32 P499 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.32.P499

ECE2013 Poster Presentations Endocrine disruptors (11 abstracts)

Tributyltin changes the thyroid gland morphology of male rats

Paula Rodrigues Pereira , Romulo Medina de Mattos , Celia Yelimar Palmero , Rodrigo Fortunato , Jones Bernardes Gracelli , Denise Pires de Carvalho , Luiz Eurico Nasciutti & Leandro Miranda-Alves

Err

Author affiliations

¹Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil; ²Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil.

Triorganotins, such as tributyltin (TBT), are environmental contaminants commonly found in antifouling paints that are used on the ships and other vessels. Unfortunately, these chemical are also suspected to cause endocrine-disrupting effects in mammals, due in part to their possible transfer through marine food chains and to the consumption of contaminated seafood. The importance of triorganotins as environmental endocrine disruptors in different animal models is well known; however, the adverse effects on thyroid gland are less well understood. We evaluate the potential histophysiology changes induced by TBT on the thyroid gland. Male Wistar rats (8 weeks old, ±250 g) were divided into 3 groups: control (vehicle, 0.4% ethanol), TBT₁ (100 ng kg⁻¹ day⁻¹) and TBT₂ (200 ng kg⁻¹ day⁻¹) treated for 15 days by gavage. After the treatments, the animals were sacrificed and thyroid glands were fixed for histological analysis. TBT (both doses) promoted a disorganization of follicular cell groups, with hypertrophy and hyperplasia of thyrocytes, elevated number of mast cells, increase in collagen deposition and glandular congestion compared with control thyroid gland. However, we did not observe changes in plasma levels of T₃ and T₄ after 15 days of treatment. Also, we showed a significant decrease in cell viability with the doses of 2.0×10⁻¹ and 1.0×10⁻¹ng/ml TBT for 2 and 3 h, using PCCL3 cells (in vitro model of thyrocytes). In this work, we observed that TBT-exposure in thyroid gland induces morphological changes and may correspond to a potential risk factor for thyroid disorders in mammals.