LONG-TERM IODINE DEFICIENCY IN THE RAT

Abstract

SUMMARY: Rats maintained on a low-iodine diet for 2 years grew fairly normally, but showed thyroid hyperplasia and colloid depletion. Radio-iodine was taken up rapidly to a high level and equally rapidly discharged. There was wide variation in the size of the thyroids, but great uniformity in the histological pattern and manner of utilizing radio-iodine. Nodules appeared in the thyroid from the 5th month in increasing numbers. They were of a trabecular type, and autoradiographically their iodine uptake was, as a rule, similar to that of the rest of the gland.