Effects of repetitive Iodine thyroid blocking on the foetal brain and thyroid in rats: a systems biology approach

International audienceA single administration of an iodine thyroid blocking agent is usually sufcient to protect thyroid from radioactive iodine and prevent thyroid cancer. Repeated administration of stable iodine (rKI) may be necessary during prolonged or repeated exposure to radioactive iodine. We previously showed that rKI for eight days ofers protection without toxic efects in adult rats. However, the efect of rKI administration in the developing foetus is unknown, especially on brain development, although a correlation between impaired maternal thyroid status and a decrease in intelligence quotient of the progeny has been observed. This study revealed distinct gene expression profles between the progeny of rats receiving either rKI or saline during pregnancy. To understand the implication of these diferentially expressed (DE) genes, a systems biology approach was used to construct networks for each organ using three diferent techniques: Bayesian statistics, sPLS-DA and manual construction of a Process Descriptive (PD) network. The PD network showed DE genes from both organs participating in the same cellular processes that afect mitophagy and neuronal outgrowth. This work may help to evaluate the doctrine for using rKI in case of repetitive or prolonged exposure to radioactive particles upon nuclear accidents