Effect of progestin on thyroid function in female Wistar rats

  • Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Jun 5:15:1362774. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1362774.
Honglei Xie  #  1 ,  Tingting Qian  #  1  2 ,  Lanchun Liu  1 ,  Rong Sun  1 ,  Wenjing Che  1 ,  Meng Zhao  1 ,  Xin Hou  1 ,  Haowen Pan  1 ,  Yue Su  1 ,  Jia Li  1 ,  Xiaoqiu Dong  1  3 ,  Peng Liu  1  4
Affiliations
  • 1. Center for Endemic Disease Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
  • 2. Endemic Disease Control Section, Yun nan Institute of Endemic Diseases Control and Prevention, Dali, China.
  • 3. Ultrasound Department, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
  • 4. Key Lab of Etiology and Epidemiology, Education Bureau of Heilongjiang Province and Ministry of Health, Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and Human Health, Harbin, China.
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 38904035 DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1362774
Abstract

Introduction: To characterize the influence of female-specific Hormones on women's thyroid function, the study investigated the influence of extra progestin from oral contraceptives on inducing thyroid dysfunction.

Methods: Sixty female Wistar rats were divided into six groups based on levonorgestrel or desogestrel administration as the main active agents: control, low (0.0039 mg*20-fold), medium (0.0039 mg*100-fold), high (0.0318 mg*100-fold) levonorgestrel (pure product); and low (0.0083 mg*20-fold) and high (0.0083 mg*100-fold) desogestrel (pure product). Progestin was administered by gavage every 4 days for 1 month. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way analysis of variance and the Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results: Following levonorgestrel gavage, serum free T4 and thyroidstimulating hormone levels were significantly lower in the experimental group than that in the control group (p=0.013 and 0.043). After desogestrel gavage, the serum free T4 and free T3 levels were lower in the experimental group than that in the control group (p=0.019 and 0.030). Thyroid hormone antibody concentrations were lower in rats administered levonorgestrel and desogestrel than that in control rats. Moreover, exposure to progestin upregulated the expression of the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor and sodium iodide symporter in thyroid.

Discussion: Progestin stimulation enhanced the proliferation of follicular epithelial cells in rat thyroid tissues. Progestin exposure could cause thyroid dysfunction by upregulating the transcription of thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor and sodium iodide symporter in thyroid, thus inducing pathomorphological changes in rats' thyroid.

Keywords
Wistar rats; female; function; progestin; thyroid.
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