Effect of thyrotropin and adenosine on inositol phospholipids pathway in human thyroid in Graves' disease.

Abstract The present study demonstrates that exposure of human thyroid slices obtained during planned surgery of patients with Graves′ disease to thyrotropin stimulates the phospholipid metabolism as measured by an increase incorporation of 2-myo-[ 3 H]-inositol into phosphatidylinositol and poliphosphatidylinositides and the generation of InsP 3 . The results indicate that adenosine, probably via the Al type of P1 receptor, modulates these actions, both incorporation of labelled substrate into thyroid slices as well as its metabolism to active compounds which could play a role in a cell signalling system. These observations indicate the significance of the phosphatidilinositol pathway in signal transmission of both, thyrotropin as well as P1 purinergic receptors agonists in human thyroid.