Different alterations of nuclear triiodothyronine receptor capacity in liver and kidney induced by starvation and triiodothyronine administration

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Abstract
Many studies have shown alterations in the number of nuclear triiodothyronine receptor (NT3R) under pathophysiologic situations. Most of these studies were performed on the rat liver and it is not known whether NT3R in different tissues exhibits an alteration similar to that in the liver. We compared the change of nuclear receptor capacity for T3 in the liver and kidney during starvation and after T3 injection. Fasting for 72 h decreased maximal binding capacity (Cmax) in the rat liver receptor to 67% of the control, while it did not significantly change Cmax in the kidney. These changes in Cmax were parallel to those of nuclear protein concentrations in both tissues. Daily sc injection of T3 (20 μg/100 g body weight) for 3 days also caused the different alteration of Cmax in the liver and kidney. After T3, hepatic NT3R increased to 182% of the control, but renal NT3R increased only to 136%. Association constants were the same in all groups. These results show that changes of NT3R capacity under some conditions vary in different tissues.