Figure 2.

Metals accumulate in the thyroid more than in muscle and fat. The bars indicate the geometric mean and the 95% confidence interval of the metals (µg/g of wet tissue) in the tissues of (a) 77 euthyroid subjects (F = 70.1%) and (b) 8 female Wistar rats. Human specimens were collected from the thyroid, the sternothyroid muscle, and the neck subcutaneous fat. Rat specimens were collected from the thyroid, the hindlimb muscle, and the visceral abdominal fat. Only metals that accumulated in the human thyroid significantly (** p < 0.01) more than in muscle and fat are shown. In rats, but not in humans, Cu and Zn also significantly accumulated in the thyroid more than in the other two tissues (not shown, see ref. [41]). < LOD = below the limit of detection. Represented data are derived from ref. [41].