The Behavior of Autologous Thyroglobulin in the Circulation of Rabbits Immunized with Either Heterologous or Altered Homologous Thyroglobulin

Abstract

Injection of adequate doses of NaI¹³¹ into iodine deficient but otherwise normal rabbits results in disruption of thyroid structure with release of I¹³¹ thyroglobulin into the circulation. In these rabbits, the I¹³¹ thyroglobulin is eliminated at an exponential rate with a half-life of 2.3 days. The release of autologous I¹³¹ thyroglobulin in rabbits previously immunized with either arsanil-sulfanil-thyrogobulin (homologous) or a heterologous thyroglobulin causes a secondary stimulation resulting in an immune elimination of the I¹³¹ thyroglobulin and production of antibody to native rabbit thyroglobulin. Complexes formed between the circulating I¹³¹ thyroglobulin and the newly synthesized antibody deposit along the glomerular basement membrane of the kidney resulting in mild glomerular inflammatory changes and proteinuria.