Thyroxine and Triiodothyronine Influence Cultured Thyroid Cells: Alterations of Morphology and Mucosubstances

Summary

Further experimentation with the steer thyroid cell line indicates that the formation of “follicles” is enhanced by exposure to 8.9 × 10^-7 M thyroxine (T₄) or triiodothyronine (T₃) for 96 hr. The production of mucosubstances by the cultured thyroid cells is also increased by treating with T₄ or T₃, effects demonstrable after staining with PAS-alcian blue at pH 2.5. It is suggested that these in vitro effects bear on morphological organization and synthetic activity of the thyroid gland as well as on autoregulation and intraglandular homeo-stasis that may occur in situ.