Thyroid hormone conversion
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A complete pathway map of T4 and T3 metabolism and clearance
Biochemical pathway maps are an important aspect of medical education and medical problem-solving. They help us to view a network or series of chemical reactions in cells. In this article, I present a comprehensive science-based pathway map showing all the major pathways of both T4 and T3 hormone metabolism, also including their urinary clearance. I…
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The leaky buckets analogy of thyroid hormone metabolism
Thyroid hormone metabolism is a very complicated system. A visual analogy sometimes goes a long way to assist comprehension. Throughout the body, there are at least six major pathways for T4 transformation or excretion, and at least six major pathways for T3 transformation or excretion. In the visual, the fluid represents circulating thyroid hormone concentrations.…
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Meet deiodinase type 1 (D1): The philanthropist enzyme
In this educational post, I introduce our thyroid hormone conversion enzyme “deiodinase type 1” (D1) in the personality of “The philanthropist” as I draw on many scientific articles. Of course, D1 is a genderless enzyme. I am personifying “her” in the image of a human female in a social role to bring the unseen world…
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The 7 lessons of the thyroid hormone deiodinases
The recent post “Thyroid hormone journey: Metabolism” is an educational compendium of diagrams, tables and bullet lists that highlight key lessons from the past five decades of thyroid science. It’s like a booklet in a blog post. The article concluded with summary of seven major lessons taught by the deiodinases. In this post, I use…
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Thyroid hormone journey: Metabolism
As one follows the thyroid hormone journey through the human body, at a crucial stage inside many of our cells, a beautiful and complex cascade transforms our thyroid hormones. In this post, I use many visuals and analogies — waterfall, professions, leaky buckets — to help conceptualize for laypeople the science found in original research…