THE IODIN REMISSION IN EXPERIMENTAL "EXOPHTHALMIC GOITER" OF GUINEA PIGS

¹ From the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Guinea pigs receiving an alkaline extract of the anterior hypophysis develop an experimental syndrome which closely resembles exophthalmic goiter in man. Although not an invariable occurrence, this cycle of hyperthyroidism in guinea pigs appears to be more intense and of longer duration in the female than in the male animals.

A detailed investigation of the effect of sodium iodid upon the increased basal metabolic rate in this experimental condition indicates that the remission produced by iodin is marked by wide individual variations. Within certain fairly well defined limits, large doses of sodium iodid are generally more effective than small doses in abolishing or inhibiting the expected rise in basal metabolic rate.

Guinea pigs, inadequately protected against the thyreotropic activity of the extract by relatively small doses of iodin, occasionally experience a secondary exacerbation of their hyperthyroidism, during which the basal metabolic rate rises higher than in the average normal control animals for a similar point in the experimental period.

The salient characteristic of the iodin remission is its transitory duration.

A marked hypothyroid state, whose extent greatly exceeds that encountered in guinea pigs injected only with the anterior pituitary extract, occasionally occurs in animals receiving simultaneous injections of sodium iodid and this extract.

The mechanism of the iodin remission is discussed.

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				H. B. FRIEDGOOD CYCLIC RESPONSE OF THE THYROID GLAND TO EXPERIMENTAL EXCITATION AND DEPRESSION Arch Intern Med, November 1, 1935; 56(5): 833 - 848. [Abstract] [PDF]