Interaction of bromine with iodine in the rat thyroid gland at enhanced bromide intake.

In experiments with rats, we have found that at enhanced intake of bromide, bromine does not replace chlorine in the thyroid; it replaces iodine. Under our experimental conditions, more than one-third of the iodine content in the thyroid was replaced by bromine. In the thyroid, bromine probably remained in the form of bromide and, in proportional to its increased concentration, the production of iodinated thyronines decreased, with the sum of the iodine and bromine concentrations being constant at the value of 20.51 +/- 1.16 mumol/g dry wt of the thyroid. In contrast to other organs, the biological behavior of bromine in the thyroid is not similar to the biological behavior of chlorine but resembles more that of iodine.