Tetraethyltdurarn disulfide (TETD) is known to inhibit dopamine-beta-hydroxylase, a copper enzyme which catalyzes the transformation of dopamine into norepinephrine. For the determination of the effects of TETD, a compound with a biological action similar to that of carbon disulfide, nine male and seven female volunteers were given 1.0 g of the drug orally. Serum thyrotropin, prolactin, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone were then assayed by radioimmunological methods before and 1, 2, 4, and 24 h after the medication was administered. Immediately after the TETD administration, the serum thyrotropin level sharply decreased and reached the lowest point at the 24th h. Prolactin appeared to decrease too, but it reached the initial level at the 24th h. A lower decrease was evidenced for the follicle-stimulating hormone, statistically significant only for males, and for the luteinizing hormone of females. Since dopamine has been proved to decrease the release of serum thyrotropin and prolactin and also since the secretion of the luteinizing and the follicle-stimulating hormone is regulated by monoamines of the central nervous system, the findings may be related to disturbances in catecholamine metabolism induced by TETD and carbon disulfide, and they may be explained by an increase in dopamine in the central nervous system and by the concomitant decrease of norepinephrine as a consequence of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase blockade. In addition these data may confirm the reduced thyroid activity found in workers exposed to carbon disulfide; the origin of the reduced activity seems related to a central involvement of catecholamine metabolism, which would influence the activity of target glands through hypothalamic releasing factors and the hypophyseal hormones.

Key terms acute effect; carbon disulfide; catecholamine metabolism; human; hypophyseal hormone; serum level; tetraethyltiuram disulfide; thyroid impairment