Abstract
REECENT STUDIES of the effects of the pituitary and of iodine administration upon the thyroid gland have focussed our attention upon the cornposition, storage and release of active hormone by the thyroid. Further progress along these lines awaits better understanding of the chemical machinery and physiological actions which these processes manifest in the building up and breaking down of thyroid protein. The isolation of thyroxin, by Kendall, led to the conception that the prime function of the gland is the manufacture of this substance in toto, that is a thyronine nucleus, as described by Harington (i), equipped with a complement of 4 iodine atoms to make tetraiodothyronine, which is thyroxin. This substance is then supposedly anchored by incorporation into thyroid protein as described by Harington and Salter (2). The studies to be reported, however, show that the simple incorporation of iodine into nondescript protein leads to thyroidal activity.
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