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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Toxicol.
Sec. Regulatory Toxicology
Volume 6 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1408808
This article is part of the Research Topic Methods and Protocols in Regulatory Toxicology View all articles
CHARACTERIZATION OF A HUMAN THYROID MICROTISSUE MODEL FOR TESTING THYROID DISRUPTING CHEMICALS
Provisionally accepted- 1 LifeNet Health, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
- 2 LifeNet Health, North Carolina, United States
Perturbation of thyroid hormone (T4) synthesis is known to cause numerous developmental, metabolic, and cognitive disorders in humans. Due to species differences in sensitivity to chemical exposures, there is a need for human-based in vitro approaches that recapitulate thyroid cellular architecture and T4 production when screening. To address these limitations, primary human thyrocytes, isolated from healthy adult donor tissues and cryopreserved at passage 1 (p'1) were characterized for cellular composition, 3D follicular architecture, and thyroglobulin (TG)/T4 expression and inhibition by prototype thyroid disrupting chemicals (TDC's). Flow analysis of the post-thaw cell suspension showed > 80% EpCAM-positive cells with 10-50% CD90-positive cells. When seeded onto 96-well Matrigel ® -coated plates and treated with bovine thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), thyrocytes formed 3D microtissues during the initial 4-5 days of culture. The microtissues exhibited a stable morphology and size over a 14-day culture period. TG and T4 production were highest in microtissues when the proportion of CD90positive cells, seeding density and thyroid stimulating hormone concentrations were between 10-30%, 6K-12K cells per well, and 0.03-1 mIU/mL, respectively. At maximal TG and T4 production levels, average microtissue diameters ranged between 50 and 200 µm. The T4 IC50 values for two prototype TPO inhibitors, 6-propyl-2-thiouracil and methimazole, were ~0.7 µM and ~0.5 µM, respectively, in microtissue cultures treated between days 9 and 14. Overall, p'1 cryopreserved primary human thyrocytes in 3D microtissue culture represent a promising new model system to prioritize potential TDC's acting directly on the thyroid as part of a weight-of evidence hazard characterization.
Keywords: thyroid, Thyrocyte, Thyroxine, Thyroglobulin, microtissues, TDC, endocrine disruption, Hypothyroidism
Received: 28 Mar 2024; Accepted: 13 Jun 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Rogers, Breathwaite, Nguyen-Jones, Anderson, Odanga, Parks, Wolf, Stone, Balbuena, Chen, Presnell, Weaver and LeCluyse. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Erick K. Breathwaite, LifeNet Health, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Thu Nguyen-Jones, LifeNet Health, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Sharon M. Anderson, LifeNet Health, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Justin J. Odanga, LifeNet Health, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Danielle T. Parks, LifeNet Health, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Kristina Wolf, LifeNet Health, North Carolina, United States
Tammy Stone, LifeNet Health, North Carolina, United States
Pergentino Balbuena, LifeNet Health, North Carolina, United States
Jingsong Chen, LifeNet Health, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Sharon C. Presnell, LifeNet Health, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Edward L. LeCluyse, LifeNet Health, North Carolina, United States
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