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Thyroxine and Triiodothyronine in the Human Thyroid¹

Department of Medicine, UCLA Center for the Health Sciences Los Angeles Departments of Medicineand Pediatrics, Harbor General Hospital Torrance, California

² Address reprint requests to: Inder J. Chopra, M.D., Department of Medicine, UCLA Center for the Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California 90024.

Thyroxine (T₄) and triiodothyronine (T₃) were measured in thyroid glands obtained from patients dying of nonthyroidal illnesses and from patients undergoing surgery for Graves' disease, follicular adenoma, colloid goiter, or chronic thyroiditis. The thyroid glands (saline extract, homogenate, or thyroglobulin [Tg]) were hydrolysed with Pronase under anaerobic conditions in the presence of 0.05M methylmercaptoimidazole and hydrolysates extracted with butanol-ethanol. Aliquots of the extracts were evaporated and analyzed for T₄ content by competitive-protein binding and/or by radioimmunoassay and for T₃ content by radioimmunoassay. The mean (± SEM) T₄ content (µg/g tissue) in 25 glands from euthyroid subjects was 172.2 ± 22.1 and the T₄/T₃ ratio 19.5 ± 1.97. Eight thyroid homogenates were processed by thin layer chromatography to separate T₄ from T₃ followed by iodometry. The T₄/T₃ ratio of 7.0 ± 1.0 so obtained was significantly lower than that (19.9 ± 3.3) obtained in these glands by specific radioimmunoassay methods. These data suggest that lower values of T₄/T₃ ratio (2.0–7.6) reported previously in normal thyroid glands may have resulted in part, at least, from methodologic problems of earlier methods. The T₄ content of 18.6 ± 1.99 µg/g tissue and the T₄/T₃ ratio of 2.87 ± 0.78 in thyroid glands of patients with Graves' disease was significantly lower than that in euthyroid subjects. The T₄ content and the T₄/T₃ ratio were comparable to normal in patients with follicular adenoma. In glands with chronic thyroiditis the T₄ content was subnormal whereas the T₄/T₃ ratio was significantly elevated. However, an unusual white precipitate had formed in the Pronase hydrolysates of these glands which limits the interpretation of the high T₄/T₃ ratio.

¹ Supported by grants from USPHS AM-13126, AM-16155, AM-04270, the John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc. and NIH Career Development Award 1K04 AM-70225-01 (Dr. Chopra).

Received June 23, 1972.

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