Possible Role of Inadequate Quantities of Intra-Thyroidal Bromine, Calcium and Magnesium in the Etiology of Female Subclinical Hypothyroidism

Abstract

Objective: Subclinical hypothyroidism does affect fertility. The prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism is 10-15 times more common in women than in men. Many chemical elements play important role in thyroid function and fertility. The aim of this exploratory study was to evaluate whether significant differences of chemical element contents exist between female and male thyroids and how they can be related to the etiology of subclinical hypothyroidism.Methods: Thyroid tissue levels of Br, Ca, Cl, I, K, Mg, Mn, and Na were prospectively evaluated in 105 healthy persons (33 females and 72 males). Tissue samples were used for chemical element measurements, employing instrumental neutron activation analysis with high resolution spectrometry of short-lived radionuclides.Results: It was found that the Br thyroid content of females was significantly higher than that of males, while the Ca and Mg contents were lower. Conclusion:Inappropriate content of intra-thyroidal Br, Ca and Mg can be associated with the etiology of female subclinical hypothyroidism.

Comparison of Levels of Twenty Chemical Elements in Normal Thyroid Tissue and Hypertrophic Thyroid Tissue

“…Level of I in the normal thyroid was investigated in relation to age, gender and some nonthyroidal diseases [23][24] . After that, variations of ChE content with age in the thyroid of males and females were studied and age-and gender-dependence of some ChE was observed [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] . Furthermore, a significant difference between some ChE contents in normal and cancerous thyroid was demonstrated [42][43][44][45][46][47] .…”