3,3'-Diiodothyronine production, a major pathway of peripheral iodothyronine metabolism in man.

3,3'-Diiodothyronine (3,3'-T(2)) has been detected in human serum and in thyroglobulin. However, no quantitative assessment of its clearance rate (CR), production rate (PR), or of the importance of extrathyroidal sources of 3,3'-T(2) relative to direct thyroidal secretion is yet available. This study examines these parameters in seven euthyroid subjects, and in eight athyreotic subjects (H) eumetabolic due to thyroxine therapy (HT(4)) (n = 5) or triiodothyronine replacement (HT(3)) (n = 3). A highly specific radioimmunoassay for the measurement of 3,3'-T(2) in whole serum was developed. Serum 3,3'-T(2) concentrations were (mean +/- SD) 6.0+/-1.0 ng/100 ml in 13 normal subjects, 9.0+/-4.6 ng/100 ml in 25 hyperthyroid patients, and 2.7+/-1.1 ng/100 ml in 17 hypothyroid patients. The values in each of the latter two groups were significantly different from normal. 3,3'-T(2) was detected regularly in normal concentrations in 11 hypothyroid patients eumetabolic by treatment with synthetic T(4), in 10 eumetabolic patients suffering from nonthyroidal systemic illness, and in 2 subjects with elevated serum T(4)-binding globulin. The 3,3'-T(2) CR was assessed from data acquired from the (125)I-3,3'-T(2) constant infusion technique. The 3,3'-T(2) PR was calculated from CR and serum concentration of 3,3'-T(2) determined by radio-immunoassay. In the HT(4) subjects the 3,3'-T(2) CR averaged 840+/-377 liters/day and 3,3'-T(2) PR 33.9+/-12.5 mug/day. These results were not significantly different from those in the control group: 3,3'-T(2) CR 628+/-218 liters/day and 3,3'-T(2) PR 39.8+/-19.8 mug/day (all corrected to 70 kg body wt). In addition to 3,3'-T(2) PR, T(3), and reverse triiodothyronine (rT(3)) PR were determined in three of the HT(4) subjects. In each case studied, the 3,3'-T(2) PR was close to the combined triiodothyronine (T(3) + rT(3)) PR. The mean molar ratio of T(2) PR/(T(3) + rT(3)) PR was 1.08+/-0.10. The results obtained in the HT(4) subjects indicate that the production of 3,3'-T(2) is a major route of T(4) metabolism. The combined studies of 3,3'-T(2), T(3) and rT(3) PR in the HT(4) subjects indicate that both T(3) and rT(3) are major precursors of 3,3'-T(2). In the HT(3) subjects, the conversion of T(3) to 3,3'-T(2), determined as the molar ratio of 3,3'-T(2) PR to T(3) PR, ranged from 0.36 to 0.92, providing further evidence that T(3) is a precursor of 3,3'-T(2). From the close agreement between the mean values for 3,3'-T(2) PR in the euthyroid and HT(4) group it is concluded that most, if not all of the 3,3'-T(2) produced in normal humans is derived by extrathyroidal conversion from T(3) and rT(3).