44 



Scientific Proceedings (36). 



27 (437) 



The survival of engrafted thyroid and renal tissue. 

 By C. C. Guthrie. 



[From the Physiological Laboratories of Washington and Pittsburgh 



Universities^ 



Thyroid. 



One lobe of the thyroid of a dog was removed and replaced 

 with reversal of the circulation, i. e., the central end of the superior 

 thyroid artery was anastomosed to the peripheral end of the 

 superior thyroid vein, and the central end of the vein was anas- 

 tomosed to the peripheral end of the artery. 



After a lapse of more than two years the lobes of the gland 

 were compared and specimens were taken and examined micro- 

 scopically. 



Results. — The unoperated lobe in size was somewhat hyper- 

 normal (perhaps compensatory hypertrophy) and microscopically 

 showed hyperplasia. The operated (auto-engrafted) lobe in size 

 was hyponormal. Structurally, it was markedly fibrous ; but it 

 was found to contain cellular elements which appeared normal and 

 normally staining colloid, the arrangements and proportions being 

 abnormal. 



Kidney. 



In 1905 whole kidneys were engrafted in both cats and dogs 

 with excellent temporary success, but in all cases where all the 

 original renal tissue was removed, the animals invariably died 

 within a few weeks. At post mortem such kidneys showed more 

 or less degeneration. The immediate result appears to be a con- 

 gestion, accompanied, in some instances at least, with more or less 

 extensive interstitial hemorrhages. Cloudy swelling quickly en- 

 sues and later more pronounced degenerative processes leading to 

 the disappearance of the normal cell structure. 



In another experiment one kidney was removed from an adult 

 female cat and a kidney from an adult male cat was engrafted in 

 the place previously occupied by the kidney removed, the renal 

 artery being anastomosed to the aorta, the renal vein to the vena 

 cava and the ureter to the stump of the ureter previously divided. 



