Abstract
Summary
We have studied the relationship of the serological and biological effects of sera from animals immunized with thyroid materials. Thyroglobulin hemagglutinating antibodies, thyroxine (T4) binding by gamma globulin, the serum content of T4 and the thyroid-stimulating (McKenzie bioassay) effects of the immune sera were compared.
Use of the double-isotopic McKenzie assay made it possible to distinguish extrathyroidal from thyroidal effects of the immune serum. The extrathyroidal effects of the bioassay correlated strongly with the T4-binding capacity of gamma globulins detectable by electrophoresis of the immune serum. This, with other evidence, indicated that the same activity was being measured with both methods. Thyroidal effects (131I-125I) in the McKenzie bioassay appeared not to be due to T4 binding, yet T4 binding was always present in such sera.
Thyroglobulin (HTg) hemagglutination did not depend on thyroxine specific determinants since T4 did not inhibit hemagglutination.
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