Some Recent Developments in the Pharmacology of the Anti-Thyroid Compounds

Abstract

Abstract It was established in 1943 that thiouracil and similar drugs inhibit the synthesis of thyroid hormone; that they can control human thyrotoxicosis; and that a necessary corollary of complete inhibition of thyroid hormone synthesis is a compensatory hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the thyroid gland, mediated through the pituitary. It was obvious at that date that these drugs were likely to become both a useful instrument of research into thyroid physiology, and effective therapeutic agents; and such they proved to be. This review will attempt to survey some of the major advances in thyroid physiology, in which the thiouracil derivatives have been implicated, and will also indicate the effect of these advances, coupled with the effect of further clinical experience, upon practical therapeutics.