Aluminium effects on thyroid gland function: Iodide uptake, hormone biosynthesis and secretion

Igwenagu

Interdisciplinary Toxicology

2019

257

149

Aluminium (Al) is frequently accessible to animal and human populations to the extent that intoxications may occur. Intake of Al is by inhalation of aerosols or particles, ingestion of food, water and medicaments, skin contact, vaccination, dialysis and infusions. Toxic actions of Al induce oxidative stress, immunologic alterations, genotoxicity, pro-inflammatory effect, peptide denaturation or transformation, enzymatic dysfunction, metabolic derangement, amyloidogenesis, membrane perturbation, iron dyshomeostasis, apoptosis, necrosis and dysplasia. The pathological conditions associated with Al toxicosis are desquamative interstitial pneumonia, pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, granulomas, granulomatosis and fibrosis, toxic myocarditis, thrombosis and ischemic stroke, granulomatous enteritis, Crohn’s disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, anemia, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, sclerosis, autism, macrophagic myofasciitis, osteomalacia, oligospermia and infertility, hepatorenal disease, breast cancer and cyst, pancreatitis, pancreatic necrosis and diabetes mellitus. The review provides a broad overview of Al toxicosis as a background for sustained investigations of the toxicology of Al compounds of public health importance.

Section: Toxic Action or Effect Selected Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aluminium toxicosis: a review of toxic actions and effects

Igwenagu

Interdisciplinary Toxicology

2019

257

149

Critical Reviews in Toxicology

“…Following up on a 1989 report concerning 21 Al workers with reduced circulating thyrotropin (TSH) and prolactin at 12–18 months after initial employment (that subsequently resolved; Alessio et al 1989), Orihuela (2011) gave 7 mg Al/kg-day as Al lactate in saline by ip injection to adult male Wistar rats for 6 weeks. Serum concentrations of TSH, triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), and Al were measured along with thyroid Al and 125 I uptake.…”

Section: Endocrinementioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic review of potential health risks posed by pharmaceutical, occupational and consumer exposures to metallic and nanoscale aluminum, aluminum oxides, aluminum hydroxide and its soluble salts

Willhite¹,

Karyakina²,

Yokel³

et al. 2014

332

201

Aluminum (Al) is a ubiquitous substance encountered both naturally (as the third most abundant element) and intentionally (used in water, foods, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines); it is also present in ambient and occupational airborne particulates. Existing data underscore the importance of Al physical and chemical forms in relation to its uptake, accumulation, and systemic bioavailability.Address for correspondence: Calvin C. Willhite, Risk Sciences International, 55 Metcalfe Street, Suite 700, Ottawa, ON, Canada. calvinwillhite@hotmail.com. Declaration of interestPartial funding for this work was provided by a contract to review the recent scientific literature on health effects of aluminum between the International Aluminium Institute (IAI, www.world-aluminium.org), the Aluminium Reach Consortium (ARC, www.aluminium-reach-consortium.eu), and Risk Sciences International (RSI, www.risksciences.com), a Canadian company established in 2006 in partnership with the University of Ottawa. Additional financial support was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to D. Krewski, who holds the NSERC Chair in Risk Science at the University of Ottawa. C.C. Willhite, N.A. Karyakina, F. Momoli, and N. Yenugadhati were compensated by RSI for their contributions to the review. I. Arnold, T. Wisniewski and R. Yokel received no compensation from RSI for their contributions to this work. The authors, whose affiliations are shown on the title page, had sole responsibility for preparation of this paper, including determining the strategy for reviewing the scientific literature summarized in this article, synthesizing the findings, and drawing conclusions. Scientists associated with IAI/ARC were given the opportunity to review and offer technical comments on the paper, prior to submission to Critical Reviews in Toxicology. I. Arnold serves as a consultant to the International Aluminium Institute. None of the authors have appeared before regulatory agencies on behalf of the sponsors, or appeared as experts in legal proceedings concerning matters reviewed in this paper. The scientific opinions and conclusions expressed in the paper are exclusively those of the authors, and are independent of the sources of financial support. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptThe present review represents a systematic examination of the peer-reviewed literature on the adverse health effects of Al materials published since a previous critical evaluation compiled by Krewski et al. (2007). The scientific literature on the adverse health effects of Al is extensive. Health risk assessments for Al must take into account individual co-factors (e.g., age, renal function, diet, gastric pH). Conclusions from the current review point to the need for refinement of the PTWI, reduction of Al contamination in PN solutions, justification for routine addition of Al to vaccines, and harmonization of OELs for Al substances.

“…The third group-substances that may increase levels of TSH or decrease T4 or T3-included the medicines Alumina, Sulfur, Mercurius, Baryta carb, Arsenicum alb and Magnesium carb (►Table 1). Aluminium may be a variable thyroid modulator: supplementation with aluminium lactate in rats decreased levels of T4 and T3 but not levels of the free hormone, 10 and in aluminium workers, exposure to aluminium had a transient depressant effect on TSH levels. 11 Regarding sulfur, the organosulfur compound goitrin is a well-known inhibitor of thyroid activity: it decreases iodine uptake by the thyroid gland, thereby decreasing production of both T4 and T3.…”

Section: The Third Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some medicines had overlapping actions, such as Calcarea carb, which affects target tissues but also appears to influence uptake of iodine into T3, 4,5,8,9 or such as Aluminium, which decreases total T4 and T3 but also effects transient decreases in TSH. 10,11 For this study, all homeopathic medicines chosen were "mineral remedies", potentized medicines based on mineral substances. Plant or animal tissues and derivatives contain many physiologically active substances, which make the study of their physiology more difficult.…”

Section: Selection Of Homeopathic Medicines For Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nineteenth-Century Homeopathic Materia Medica Texts Predict Source Materials Whose Physiological Actions Influence Thyroid Activity

Block¹

2019

Homeopathy

Introduction The homeopathic materia medica contains hundreds of thousands of observations collected over the course of two centuries. It includes both clinical observations of potentized medicines and observations of the actions of potentized medicines on healthy subjects (provings). This current study was undertaken to determine the degree to which observations within the materia medica were associated with the physiological mechanisms for thyroid activity-inhibiting substances in their undiluted state. Materials and Methods Four specific symptoms for iodine deficiency were selected to describe the hypothyroid state: (1) generalized aggravation by or sensitivity to cold; (2) chronic painless hoarseness; (3) goiter; (4) painless diffuse non-scarring alopecia. Symptom representation for the four selected symptoms within the homeopathic materia medica was compared for 2 halogen inhibitors, for 3 substances that influence thyroid hormone target tissues, for 6 substances known or suspected to increase thyroid-stimulating hormone or decrease thyroid hormone levels, and for 11 substances not known to inhibit thyroid activity. To avoid knowledge bias, only those compilations of materia medica whose publication dates preceded the discoveries of crucial aspects of thyroid physiology were used as source materials for investigation. Results Homeopathic medicines derived from 11 substances with mechanisms for inhibition of thyroid activity were more likely to exhibit selected symptoms than the medicines derived from the 11 substances without known physiological mechanisms for thyroid activity inhibition. The difference between groups was analyzed via the Mann–Whitney non-parametric U test and was statistically significant to p < 0.01. After observations obtained from provings alone were removed from analysis, the difference remained significant to p < 0.01. Only the two halogen inhibitors of iodine (bromine and fluoric acid) and one of the influencers of thyroid hormone target tissue (calcium carbonate) were significantly goitrogenic. Conclusions With respect to thyroid activity inhibition, there is a statistically significant association between observations recorded within the homeopathic materia medica and the expected physiological mechanisms for the corresponding undiluted substances.