THE ACCUMULATION OF RADIOACTIVE IODIDE BY THE THYROID GLAND IN NORMAL AND THYROTOXIC SUBJECTS AND THE EFFECT OF THIOCYANATE ON ITS DISCHARGE1

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Abstract
Interest in the effects of thiocyanate on the thyroid gland followed the observation that goiter occurred in 11 of 246 patients treated with the material for long periods of time for hypertension (Barker, 1936; Barker, Lindberg, and Wald, 1941). Both the thyroid enlargement and the accompanying manifestations of hypothyroidism were relieved by thyroid administration. It was later postulated that the action of thiocyanate in producing goiter in rats differed from that of the thiouracil derivatives (Astwood, 1943). With the former the thyroid effect was much slower to develop and was completely abolished by added iodide, which did not modify the thyroid response to compounds of the thiouracil series. From studies of the accumulation of I131 by surviving thyroid slices from sheep, Franklin, Chaikoff, and Lerner (1944) showed that the iodide-concentrating capacity was inhibited by thiocyanate. Other goitrogens did not significantly diminish the accumulation of iodide by the tissue but prevented its conversion to diiodotyrosine and thyroxin.