title: Thyroid-stimulating activity in sera of normal pregnant women.
abstract: To evaluate the effect of a thyroid stimulator on thyroid function in the sera of normal pregnant women, we measured thyroid-stimulating activity (TSA) using a highly sensitive bioassay based on cAMP accumulation in cultured rat FRTL-5 thyroid cells. Serum was pretreated with 10% polyethylene glycol (PEG), and the supernatant (PEG-pretreated serum) was then used in the following studies. FRTL-5 cells were preincubated in 5H medium and incubated for 2 h with PEG pretreated serum, and cAMP was measured. All 11 patients with untreated hyperthyroid Graves' disease with strongly positive thyroid-stimulating antibody activity had normal TSA, because only 5.6% of their immunoglobulin G was recovered in the PEG-pretreated serum. In 32 normal pregnant women, 29 (91%) had positive TSA. Their TSA showed statistically significant positive correlations with serum hCG and free T4 levels, and a negative correlation with serum TSH levels. Moreover, when hCG was absorbed from sera by incubation with the solid phase anti-HCG monoclonal antibody, a significant positive correlation was observed between the rate of decrease in hCG and that in TSA. In conclusion, 1) TSA exists in the sera of normal pregnant women, which reflects hCG itself; and 2) thyroid glands of normal pregnant women may be stimulated by TSA to induce a slight suppression of TSH but not sufficient to induce overt hyperthyroidism.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horimoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sawaragi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Horikoshi
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sawaragi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inada
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood*; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D012016:Reference Values; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D013972:Thyrotropin; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D013974:Thyroxine