Current Views on Formation of Thyroid Hormones

Abstract

CERTAIN unique features of the thyroid gland make it the object of a good deal of clinical and laboratory investigation. For the clinician its disorders comprise the most common endocrine problems. Abnormalities are easily detected by external examination and can be studied by standard clinical tests. The effects of dysfunction are dramatic on first observations, and with appropriate therapy are often reversible. For the physiologist or biochemist the thyroid gland is unique in its devotion to production of a predominant protein, thyroglobulin, and in its affinity for iodine, an element whose metabolism can be conveniently assessed through use of a . . .