A transient rise of hormone secretion: a response of the stimulated rat thyroid gland to small increments of iodide supply.
Small doses of iodide (2 times 3.2 mug at 12 h interval), below those capable of inducing Wolff-Chaikoff effect, were injected into rats kept on a moderately low iodine diet. By means of a 125I equilibration technique as well as by direct measurement of cold T4, it was demonstrated that the level of circulating PB125I (representing iodothyronines as confirmed by column chromatography) increased by a mean of 40% within 24 h following the first iodide injection. The serum TSH concentration (measured by radioimmunoassay) was simultaneously depressed. Thus, in stimulated thyroid glands, a biologically significant fraction of an iodide load escapes autoregulatory control of iodothyronine synthesis. A small, transient increase of hormone release is likely to represent the physiological response of a normal gland to a sudden supplement of iodide supply. The ensuing depression of TSH secretion may be necessary for final adjustment of thyroid function. It is considered to be the last step in a cascade of mechanisms whose interaction keeps the thyroidal hormone output within narrow limits in the face of a fluctuating iodide supply. Failure of one or several of these mechanisms in the goitrous human gland could conceivable explain the phenomenon of "Jod Basedow".
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007454:Iodides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D013960:Thyroid Function Tests; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000378:metabolism*; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
D007454:Iodides; D013972:Thyrotropin; D013974:Thyroxine