EFFECT OF EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED THYROIDITIS ON BIOSYNTHESIS OF THYROXINE IN RATS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Thyroiditis was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats by repeated immunization with thyroid extract and Freund's adjuvant. Immunized and control animals were killed at intervals up to 6 hours after intravenous administration of 131I as iodide at 5, 8 and 10 weeks after the first injection. Radioiodinated compounds in the thyroid glands were identified chromatographically. Evidence of moderate thyroiditis was present (histologic appearance, gland weight, and protein-bound iodine-butanol-extractable iodine difference) but the rate of incorporation of radioiodide into thyroxine, the percentage of radioactivity in the gland as iodide, and the MIT/DIT ratio were not significantly different in immunized and control animals. The MIT/DIT ratio was found to vary with time after 131I administration in both immunized and control animals. These studies did not uncover a defect in organification of iodide in experimental thyroiditis similar to that described by others in humans with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.