Perchlorate

Perchlorate is a chemical that is used in solid rocket propellants, ordnance, fireworks, and airbag deployment systems, and is ubiquitously detected in water and food. Although perchlorate is shown to have thyroid-disrupting effects in experimental animals, it remains controversial as to whether environmentally occurring levels of perchlorate have any effects on humans. This chemical acts as potent competitive inhibitor of iodide uptake into the thyroid follicular cells by the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS). Perchlorate also interacts with pendrin, a member of the solute carrier (SLC) family, another iodide transporter. In vitro cell-based assays, where inhibition of iodide uptake is measured, are powerful tools to detect chemicals, such as perchlorate, that targets the NIS. In vivo assays such as the amphibian metamorphosis assay are also available, but are not specific for NIS inhibitors.