Reactions of thyroid glands to juxtathyroidal implants of thyrotropic agents.

Abstract

Detection and measurement of small amounts of thyrotropin, such as might be included in a single pituitary gland, is extremely difficult, if not impossible, by ordinary techniques. The following experiments, in which hypophyseal and control material were implanted in direct contact with the thyroid glands of otherwise intact test animals, were designed for this purpose. In some tests the thyrotropic materials were permitted to remain in contact with the thyroid for as long as nine months to determine the effect of prolonged localized inequality in thyroidarfunction. In other tests the treated animals weresacrificed after 100 hours of contact with the implant to conform to a commonly used interval of observation in bioassay of hypophyseal materials. In the 100-hour tests 23 200-gram guinea pigs of both sexes and 35 threemonth- old male CFWstrain mice were used. Of the guinea pigs, six were aseptically implanted with adult male mouse pituitaries, and six with mouse muscle; five were untreated.