EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF THYROID TUMORS BY ALTERNATING HYPERPLASIA AND INVOLUTION*

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Abstract
A series of animals was subjected to repeated cycles of hyperplasia and involution of the thyroid gland. The hyperplasia was produced by giving propylthiouracil in the drinking water; the involution by interrupting the propylthiouracil therapy and the administration of potassium iodide. Tumors of the thyroid gland were produced in animals thus treated very much earlier and in much greater numbers than in control animals who were kept on continuous thyroid stimulation by the use of the propylthiouracil alone. It is thought that this may be an important principle in experimental tumor formation in general, that alternating hyperplasia and involution may be more effective than sustained stimulation alone. Certain clinical observations are in accord with this observation.

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