ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effects of amitrole on the transcription of thyroglobulin (tg), thyroid peroxidase (tpo), Na(+)/I- symporter (nis), Na(+)/I- symporter (nis), thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (tshr), thyroid transcription factor 1 (ttf-1) and paired-domain protein-8 (pax-8) genes in FRTL-5 cells and investigate the mechanism of amitrole for intervening in thyroid hormone activity.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>FRTL-5 cells were treated with amitrole at 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 mg/ml for 24 h, respectively, after which the cells were collected for extraction of the total RNA. RT-PCR was used to examine the effects of amitrole on the transcription of tg, tpo, nis, tshr, pax-8 and ttf-1 genes in FRTL-5 cells.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Amitrole significantly induced tg gene transcription at all the doses, but produced no obvious effects on tpo and nis gene transcription. At the concentration of 0.1 mg/ml, amitrole significantly reduced pax-8 and tshr gene transcription but increased ttf-1 gene transcription.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The effects of amitrole on thyroid hormone activity may be related with its actions on tg, ttf-1, tshr and pax-8 gene transcription.</p>