CHEMISTRY OF dOITER fiOo 



Moncry" has found for France, as Bauniann did for (jcrmany, liiat 

 the amount of iodin contained in the ghmds of normal incUviduals is 

 in inverse proportion to the frcqiioncy of p;oitpr in districts in which 

 they Hvc. Oswakl, and also Acschbachcr,'''' however, slate that normal 

 thyroids in goi^i'O'^is districts contain inoie io(Un than thyroids from 

 goiter-free districts. 



Chemical analyses of goiters have given extremely variable results, 

 which arc found to depend upon the histological type of the goiter. 

 Baumann found that in a series of twelve cases of goiter, in which the 

 average dry weight was 32 grams, the amount of iodin in each gram 

 was but 0.09 mg., but the total amount, 2.6 mg., was about the same 

 as in normal glands of the same goitrous district. However, in two 

 goiters large amounts of iodin were found, nameh', 17.5 n'g. and 31.5 

 nig. Wells found that the amount of iodin depended upon the struc- 

 ture, for two hyperplastic goiters contained respectively 8.23 and 8.3 

 mg. of iodin, or about the amount normal for thyroids in this country, 

 whereas two colloid goiters contained 53.16 and 24.59 mg. of iodin. 

 This is corroborated by the more extensive studies of Marine and his 

 co-workers, who have found the proportion of iodin low in all glands 

 showing epithelial hyperplasia, but high in colloid goiters. ^'^ Admin- 

 istration of iodin causes a reversion of the hyperplastic to the colloid 

 type of gland, while deprivation of iodin causes hyperplasia. Pre- 

 sumably, therefore, during the active growth of a goiter the iodin 

 is low, but in the quiescent colloid state it is high. The physiological 

 activity of colloid or other preparations from goiters is found to be 

 quite the same as that from normal glands, varying in direct proportion 

 to the iodin content. ^^ In an adenomatous goiter, in the new growth, 

 Wells found 1.98 mg. of iodin per gram, while the rest of the gland con- 

 tained but 0.8 mg. ; the total amount of iodin was 9.26 mg., or the same 

 quantity as found in normal glands. In nine fetal adenomas Marine 

 and Lenhart found iodin in eight in amounts averaging 0.174 mg. per 

 gram of dry weight. However, when iodin is given to persons with 

 thyroid adenomas the tumor tissue does not take up the iodin to the 

 same extent that the normal gland tissue does. The presence of 

 great numbers of mitochondria in the cells of adenomas indicates their 

 high functional activity. -^^ 



Oswald found that colloid goiters contain a thyreoglobulin that is 

 relatively very poor in iodin; in goiterous calves the thyreoglobulin 

 contained^no iodin; in human goiters it contained but 0.07 to 0.19 

 per cent, of iodin, as against a normal proportion of 0.34 per cent. 

 Administration of iodides to a goiterous patient caused a rise in the 

 proportion of iodin in the colloid to 0.51 per cent., showing that in 



» Jour. Pharm. et Chim., 1904 (95), 288. 



^" Mitt. a. d. Grenzgeb. Med. u. Chir., 1905 (15), 269. 



" Arch. Int. Med., 1908 (1), 349; 1909 (3), CO; 1909 (4), 440. 



58 See Fonio, Mito. (irenz. Med. u. Chir., 1911 (24), 123. 



" Goetsch, N. Y State Jour. Med., July, 1918. 



