THE PITUITARY BODY 



supports the use of iodine and iodides as part of the modern 

 treatment of Graves's disease if one assumes that stimulation 

 of the thyroid by a pituitary hormone is an etiological factor 

 in the disease. The administration of thyroid gland, thyroxin, 

 or substances related to thyroxin also lessens or prevents thy- 

 roid stimulation by anterior-lobe extracts as shown by Aron 

 (1930), Loeb, Bassett, and Friedman (1930), Houssay,Biasot- 

 ti, and Magdalena (1932), and Loeser (1934). The effects of 

 the "antithyrotropic hormone" of Collip and Anderson have 

 already been discussed (pp. 261-64). 



Agnoli (1934) concluded that the thyrotropic effects of an- 

 terior-lobe extract were antagonized by bromide (but not 

 fluoride) and by salts of the following metals: copper, arsenic, 

 zinc, and manganese (slightly by salts of cobalt and nickel). 



Thyroid-stimulating extracts from the anterior pituitary, 

 other tissues, and body-fluids.^'^ — For making thyroid-stimu- 

 lating extracts, beef anterior lobes, fresh or desiccated and 

 defatted, have generally been used. Investigators who have 

 mentioned the most potent preparations (0.01-0.3 mg. per 

 "guinea pig-unit") have not adequately described their meth- 

 od of preparation. Descriptions of methods, some detailed 

 and some vague, have been given by Loeb and Bassett (1930), 

 Janssen and Loeser (1931), Oehme, Paal, and Kleine (1932), 

 Guyenot and others (1932), Junkmann and Schoeller (1932), 

 Loeser (1932, 1934), Anderson and Collip (1933-34), Andreis 

 (1933), Krogh and Okkels (1933), Miiller (1934), Rowlands 

 and Parkes (1934), and Greep (1935). The first extraction 

 may be carried out with water or dilute solutions of acid 

 (CH3COOH) or alkali (NaOH, HN4OH). Such extracts are 

 apparently still potent after deproteinization by ultra-filtra- 

 tion or by treatment with sulfosalicylic or trichloracetic acids. 

 Loeser has then efl^ected further purification by precipitation 

 of the hormone by acetone and later methyl alcohol. The 

 hormone is soluble in aqueous solutions of ethyl alcohol, ace- 



'*' Also see Spaul (1931); Heyl (i9.?4); and Schittenhelm and Eisler (1935). 

 [272] 



