Thyrotrophic hormone content of human sera in normals and patients with thyroid disease.

Professor Dr. A. Querido (Leiden) and Miss L. D. F. Lameyer (Leiden): Thyrotrophic Hormone Content ofHuman Sera in Normals and Patients with Thyroid Disease This study of T.S.H. in body fluid was initiated for three main reasons: It might help (1) in differential diagnosis; (2) in our knowledge of the mechanism of thyroid disease; and (3) in our work on the eye problems associated with thyroid disease. I shall discuss T.S.H. determination from data obtained in my department mainly by Miss Lameyer (1956) and Dr. A. A. H. Kassenaar. In our method we use the response to T.S.H. of inhibited mice thyroids, expressed in percentage dose of administered 131 which is accumulated in a definite time (Querido et al., 1953). The thyroids are inhibited with iodocasein before the experiment in order to obtain resting glands with low uptake values. Mice are used because they are small, very sensitive to T.S.H. stimulation and easily handled and obtainable. Fig. 1 gives an example of the