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

Summary 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.