Concepedia

Abstract

In normal rats, the apical region of the thyroid follicle cells harbors a heterogeneous population of vesicular elements. Functionally, these are of at least two categories: endocytotic and exocy-totic. Elimination of TSH secretion, either by hypophysectomy or by suppression with daily doses (of L-thyroxine (T4), was followed by marked changes in the population of vesicles: the heterogeneity disappeared, and only one type of vesicles remained. These remaining vesicles had a diameter of 1,000–3,000 A and they were characterized by a very dense content and a bounding membrane of 60 A. During continuous suppression of TSH secretion, the number of such vesicles decreased, but at a slow rate and they were still present at the sixth day. In contrast, colloid droplets vanished within one day. In T4-suppressed animals, the rate of incorporation of leucine-l4C into thyroid proteins, including thyroglobulin, was slowly affected, being reduced by only 15% after 1 day and by 50% after 6 days. In contrast, plasma prot...