Peter H J, Studer H, Forster R, Gerber H
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1982 Nov;55(5):941-6. doi: 10.1210/jcem-55-5-941.
The prominent characteristics of euthyroid and hyperthyroid human nodular goiters are the regional variability of iodine metabolism and the appearance of "hot" autonomous follicles. No explanation for the pathogenesis of the interfollicular heterogeneity of iodine turnover has yet been offered. We have investigated whether the recently demonstrated polyclonality of normal follicular epithelia could possibly be related to goiter heterogeneity. The present work demonstrates, by means of autoradiographic and histological techniques, that single cells or tiny cell families with widely differing metabolic properties are normally present within single mouse, rat, and human thyroid follicles. In animals, intercellular heterogeneity is demonstrated in respect to 1) iodinating capacity, 2) peroxidase content, 3) endocytotic response to TSH, and 4) proneness to replicate. Moreover, [3H] thymidine labeling of stimulated mice thyroids reveals that mitotic cells are not randomly distributed; some follicles contain large colonies of rapidly replicating cells, and these clonogenic cells give rise to new follicles. Since simple goiter formation invariably implies replication of normal thyroid follicles, we conclude that the large differences in iodine turnover among the follicles of simple goiters are a consequence of the generation of new, metabolically heterogeneous follicles from genetically distinct cell clusters existing with the epithelia of all normal mother follicles.
甲状腺功能正常和甲状腺功能亢进的人类结节性甲状腺肿的显著特征是碘代谢的区域变异性以及“热”自主性滤泡的出现。目前尚未对滤泡间碘周转异质性的发病机制作出解释。我们研究了最近证实的正常滤泡上皮的多克隆性是否可能与甲状腺肿异质性有关。本研究通过放射自显影和组织学技术证明，在单个小鼠、大鼠和人类甲状腺滤泡中通常存在代谢特性差异很大的单个细胞或微小细胞家族。在动物中，细胞间异质性体现在以下几个方面：1）碘化能力；2）过氧化物酶含量；3）对促甲状腺激素的内吞反应；4）复制倾向。此外，对受刺激的小鼠甲状腺进行[3H]胸腺嘧啶核苷标记显示，有丝分裂细胞并非随机分布；一些滤泡含有大量快速复制的细胞集落，这些克隆形成细胞会产生新的滤泡。由于单纯性甲状腺肿的形成总是意味着正常甲状腺滤泡的复制，我们得出结论，单纯性甲状腺肿滤泡间碘周转的巨大差异是由所有正常母滤泡上皮中存在的基因不同的细胞簇产生新的、代谢异质性滤泡所致。
