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THE POSSIBLE VICARIOUS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PITUITARY AND THYROID GLANDS
Author(s) -
Simpson Sutherland,
Hunter Andrew
Publication year - 1911
Publication title -
quarterly journal of experimental physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1469-445X
pISSN - 0370-2901
DOI - 10.1113/expphysiol.1911.sp000099
Subject(s) - thyroid , cretinism , medicine , endocrinology , pituitary gland , iodine , thyroid function , physiology , goiter , hormone , chemistry , organic chemistry
1. Complete removal of the thyroid gland in lambs from seven to eight months old and in adult sheep does not lead to the appearance of iodine in the pituitary, even after so long an interval as from five to six months. On the assumption that the iodine‐containing substance of the thyroid represents its active secretion, this does not support the Rogowitsch theory that in thyroid insufficiency the pituitary vicariously takes on its function. 2. Compared with normal animals of the same age there is evidence of some increase in the size of the pituitary in the thyroidectomised lambs and sheep, but this is not so great as has been reported by many observers in other experimental animals—notably the rabbit,—nor in some cases of myxœdema and cretinism in the human subject. In the case of the lambs this increase amounted to about 15 per cent., and in the adult sheep to about 20 per cent., in from five to six months.