THE THYROTROPIC HORMONE 



mone in 5-8 cc. of blood. Generally the blood of patients 

 with hyperthyroidism contained less hormone than normal; 

 the findings were similar in patients thought to be suffering 

 from hypothyroidism due to hypofunction of the anterior 

 pituitary. On the other hand, the concentration of thyro- 

 tropic hormone in the blood of patients with hypothyroidism 

 of purely thyroid origin or in that of patients with a pituitary 

 tumor associated with an elevated basal metabolic rate was 

 higher than normal. In investigating the thyrotropic hor- 

 mone of serum, Hertz and Oastler (1936) relied upon an ex- 

 ceedingly specific test — i.e., the induction of histological 

 signs of thyroid activity in hypophysectomized rats. Thyro- 

 tropic hormone was detected in the serum of 9 patients with 

 myxedema, whereas none could be found in the serum of 5 

 normal individuals or of 7 patients with hyperthyroidism. 

 Serum in doses of 1-2 cc. twice daily was administered intra- 

 muscularly for 5 days. 



There is still controversy concerning the excretion of 

 thyrotropic hormone in the urine. Antognetti and Geriola 

 (1936) could secure no convincing evidence that thyrotropic 

 hormone can be extracted from the urine of normal persons 

 or of patients with Graves's disease or myxedema, whether 

 spontaneous or resulting from thyroidectomy. In the work of 

 Hertz and Oastler referred to in the preceding paragraph the 

 detection of thyrotropic hormone in urine was also under- 

 taken. The authors usually injected 5 cc. of urine twice daily 

 for 5 days by an intramuscular route into hypophysec- 

 tomized male rats. Thyrotropic hormone could be detected 

 in the urine of patients with myxedema, whereas none could 

 be found in the urine of patients with hyperthyroidism or in 

 that of normal persons. Nitescu and Timu§ (1938) agree 

 that the hormone cannot be found in normal urine or in urine 

 of patients with Graves's disease; however, they did detect 

 thyrotropic hormone in the urine of an acromegalic with 

 symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Grumbrecht (1935) believed 

 that the urine of women past the menopause contains thyro- 



[191] 



