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Biomedical subjects

J Orgiazzi

Publications and source records attributed to J Orgiazzi.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

[Study of the thyroid function by the I-M TRH test (2 mg) (author's transl)].

The responses of TSH, T3 and T4 to intramuscular administration of 2 mg of TRH were compared in the same subjects to those observed after intravenous injection of 200 microgram of TRH. In 12 normal subjects the TSH and T3 peaks were significantly higher after intramuscular injection. There was no difference in T4 levels. In 15 patients: 5 toxic adenomas after surgery and 10 Graves' disease after treatment the results were comparable for TSH and T3 by the two routes.

Adult↗

[Do lithium salts have a place in the treatment of severe hyperthyroidism? (author's transl)].

In a patient with hyperthyroidism resulting in cachexia, severe cardiac complications and functional renal failure, and a second case of hyperthyroidism refractory to carbimazole as a result of iodine overload, the administration of 1 to 3 g of lithium gluconate every 1 to 3 days, in association with carbimazole, led to persistent clinical and biological improvement in 8 to 16 days. In the first case, the course was complicated by neurological intolerance (blood lithium 0.98 mEq/l) which responded to the temporary interruption of treatment and by a transient escape of thyroid function from the effects of lithium which disappeared after a slight adjustment in the dose. In the second case, the course under treatment was favourable from the outset. Thus in forms of hyperthyroidism in which usual forms of treatment are inadequate and where there is a risk of "acute crises", lithium may be valuable as adjuvant therapy. If the dose is regularly modified in order to obtain a daily blood lithium level of less than 0.60 mEq/l, and on condition of close clinical, electrocardiographic and ionic surveillance, cardiac and renal failure and neuropsychiatric disturbances do not prevent the use of lithium, which the authors feel to be of irreplaceable value.

Aged↗

Perchlorate ion enhances mouse thyroid responsiveness to thyrotropin, human chorionic gonadotropin and long acting thyroid stimulator.

Perchlorate treatment of mice increased by 1.5-2-fold the thyroid secretory response to TSH, hCG and LATS, in the McKenzie bioassay. Perchlorate alone did not increase basal plasma radioactivity. Perchlorate augmentation of the secretory response index was roughly proportional to the level of stimulation; it was similar for all three stimulators despite their different time courses of action which were unaltered by perchlorate; it was the same whether perchlorate administration preceded, coincided with or shortly followed injection of the stimulator, a finding in keeping with the slow clearance of this ion. The perchlorate effect was dose-related, although within a narrow range (6.25-12.5 microng/mouse). Near-maximal per chlorate effect was obtained with a dose (12.5 microng) which, when tested in different experimental conditions (MMI-blocked thyroid), discharged 80% of intrathyroidal radioiodide. Perchlorate exerted its augmenting effect by enhancing thyroid secretion: it increased plasma radioiodothyronines and radioiodide concentrations without decreaseing the blood disappearance rates of iodide and iodothyronines. The potentiating effect of perchlorate probably takes place at a step prior to cyclic AMP action since it did not affect dbcAMP-stimulated secretion. The perchlorate effect may be indirect, through mobilization of minute amounts of intrathyroidal iodide.

Animals↗

Human thyroid adenyl cyclase-stimulating activity in immunoglobulin G of patients with Graves' disease.

UNLABELLED: We have studied the characteristics of the stimulation of adenyl cyclase (AC) activity in human thyroid plasma membranes by thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and by immunoglobulin G (IgG) from the sera of patients with Graves' disease. AC activity was measured as adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) generated by membranes in a 10 minute incubation. IgG from two patients with Graves' disease possessed particularly potent human thyroid AC-stimulating activity; the dose-response curves with these IgGs were essentially parallel to those obtained with TSH. As little as 30 mug of the IgG of one patient with Graves' disease or 8 muU of TSH caused significant AC stimulation. A Lineweaver-Burk plot of the data suggested similarity in the site of action of both TSH and human thyroid adenyl cyclase stimulator (HTACS) in Graves' IgG. Submaximal doses of HTACS and TSH had additive effects on AC stimulation, but a large dose of a Graves' IgG with potent AC stimulating activity did not enhance AC stimulation by a maximal dose of TSH. The effect of HTACS on AC was slower in onset and longer in duration than an equipotent dose of TSH. HTACS was detectable in IgGs of 9 of 15 untreated hyperthyroid Graves' disease patients; its concentration, however, did not correlate significantly with tests of thyroid function, nor with long-acting thyroid stimulator (LATS) activity. In another 11 treated patients with Graves' disease, selected for the presence of LATS, HTACS and LATS were significantly correlated. We observed no inhibition of LATS activity in a Graves' IgG chosen for such testing because of its high titer of HTACS and no detectable LATS. However, an inhibitor of HTACS was detected in 2 of 4 IgGs; one of these two IgGs also inhibited AC stimulation by TSH. CONCLUSIONS: 1) Some Graves' disease IgGs contain a human thyroid AC stimulator (HTACS), probably different from LATS. 2) HTACS may act via a common pathway with TSH; it differs from TSH, however, in having a slower onset and a greater effect during more prolonged incubation with plasma membranes. 3) There is also an inhibitor of HTACS activity in some Graves' disease IgGs.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗

[Thyroid gland TSH receptors].

The author first considers the general conditions of reversibility, saturability, specificity and affinity which should be filled by all receptors, but emphasizes certain special difficulties on analysis of TSH receptors. TSH is a glycoprotein of molecular weight 28,000, composed of 2 alpha and beta sub-units; the role of each of these with regard to the receptor, is discussed. The TSH receptor is mainly localised in the outer part of the plasma membrane of the thyroid cells. An important point concerns the biological significance of the link between TSH and receptors and the activation of the adenylate cyclase AMPc system. One may experimentally dissociate with lecithinase these two cell events: treatment of thyroid tissue with this enzyme abolishes the biological response but does not affect the bond. The notion of hormone dependency of thyroid carcinoma is still classical but should be reconsidered in the light of new data concerning TSH receptors. Finally, the notion of variable receptivity of the thyroid tissue to TSH permits one to imagine another regulatory mechanism for which the receptors are responsible.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗

Evidence for normal thyroidal adenyl cyclase, cyclic AMP-binding and protein-kinase activities in Graves' disease.

The adenyl cyclase, cAMP-binding and protein-kinase activities have been studied in thyroid glands from patients with Graves' disease in comparison with normal thyroid glands. The basal and TSH-stimulated adenyl cyclase activities were tested in crude plasma membrane preparations. The characteristics of the intracellular binding of cAMP, i.e., the maximal binding capacity (MBC) for cAMP and affinity constant (Ka) of the binding, and the basal and cAMP-stimulated protein-kinase activities, were estimated in both the soluble and particulate fractions of thyroid tissue. All of these parameters studied were essentially normal in Graves' disease. It is concluded that hyperthyroidism in Graves' disease is probably not a result of qualitative or quantitative abnormalities in the adenyl cyclase-cAMP protein-kinase system.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗

Acute effects of corticosteroids on thyroid activity in Graves' disease.

We studied the effects of administration of dexamethasone, 2 mg orally every 6 hr for 4 doses, on circulating thyroid hormone levels in hyperthyroid Graves' disease patients and in normal subjects. Serum triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) and thyroglobulin (Tg) fell significantly below baseline values within 24 to 48 h after the first dose of dexamethasone in hyperthyroid patients; the values returned to or toward baseline levels in the subsequent 5 to 6 days. Serum T3 fell transiently in normals but to a much smaller degree than in hyperthyroid patients; T4 and Tg showed no significant change. Dexamethasone had ni inhibitory effect on the thyroid response to exogenous TSH in the hyperthyroid patients. Studies in vitro demonstrated lack of any appreciable effect by dexamethasone or hydrocortisone on stimulation of human thyroid adenyl cyclase by TSH or immunoglobulin G(IgG) from patient with Graves' disease. The fall in serum T3 without a change in serum T4 in normals suggested an effect of dexamethasone on peripheral conversion of T4 to T3. However, the markedly greater, more persistent drop in T3 in the hyperthyroid patients, as well as the associated drop in T4 and Tg, suggested an additional effect of dexamethasone administration on thyroid secretion in these patients. Preservation of thyroidal response to TSH during dexamethasone administration both in vivo and in vitro indicated that dexamethasone had not impaired thyroidal cellular processes per se. The data were consistent with an effect of dexamethasone on thyroid stimulator. The putative stimulator does not appear to be normal pituitary thyrotropin (TSH), since TSH was not detected in serum of anyof the patients studied. Additionally, the changes observed were too rapid to be explained by a steroid-induced fall in the level of a circulating IgG thyroid stimulator. The data are consistent with the possibility that there may be a non-TSH non-IgG thyroid stimulator in Graves' disease.

Adolescent↗

Opposite effects of dexamethasone on serum concentrations of 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine (reverse T3) and 3,3'5-triiodothyronine (T3).

Dexamethasone, 2 mg every 6 hours for 4 doses, was given to 4 hypothyroid patients receiving treatment with synthetic thyroxine (T4) and to 8 untreated hyperthyroid patients with Graves' disease, and serum concentrations of thyroid hormones were measured by radioimmunoassays. Serum concentration of 3,3'5'-triiodothyronine (reverse T3, rT3) increased appreciably within 8 hours after the first dose of dexamethasone, was maximum at 24-32 hours after beginning dexamethasone, and remained elevated for about 24 hours after discontinuing the steroid. The mean baseline serum rT3 was 58 ng/per 100 ml in treated hypothyroid patients and 119 ng per 100 ml in patients with Graves' disease; the corresponding maximal post-dexamethasone serum rT3 values were 87 and 170 serum concentration of 3,3',5-triiodothyronine (T3) decreased. The decrease in serum T3 was significant at about 24 hours after beginning dexamethasone and was maximal at about 30 hours in both groups of cases under study. The decrease in serum T3 persisted in treated hypothyroid cases for about 24-48 hours and in Graves' disease cases as long as studied, at least 5 days after discontinuing hexamethasone. The changes in serum rT3 and T3 could not be attributed to the effect of dexamethasone on serum protein binding of the iodothyronines because the dialyzable fractions of rT3 and T3 following steroid administration were not different from those before it. Serum T4 did not change appreciably in treated hypothyroid cases, but decreased in Graves' disease cases from a mean baseline value of 23.5 mug per 100 ml to 18.4 mug per 100 ml 3 days after beginning dexamethasone. In addition, 3 hyperthyroid cases were studied before, during, and after administration of dexamethasone, 2 mg every 6 h for 5 days. Serum rT3 increased again as noted above and the increase persisted until about 24 hours after the last dose of the steroid. Serum T3 decreased considerably and remained decreased as long as studied, at least 4 days after discontinuing the steroid. Serum T4 decreased appreciably in 2 of the 3 cases studied. The data suggest that 1) conversion of T4 to T3 and to rT3 may occur via two distinct pathways in the metabolism of T4; 2) the changes in serum rT3 and T3 observed in our study may be due in part at least to a steroid-induced 'shift' in the metabolism of T4 whereby conversion of T4 to T3 is diminished and that to rT3 is enhanced; 3) in addition to the effect on peripheral metabolism of T4, steroids appear to reduce the circulating thyroid hormones in Graves' disease by another mechanism, probably by reduction in thyroid secretion.

Adult↗