Evidence for a secretion of thyroxine by isolated hog thyroid cells

Isolated thyroid cells prepared from hog thyroid glands by tryptic dispersion were incubated with 131I- for 1--6 h. Free [131I]thyroxine was identified in the incubation medium by three chromatographic methods. Neither [131I]iodotyrosines nor [131I]triiodothyronine were detected. The [131I]thyroxine released in the medium by 100 mul of cells (packed cell volume) after a 6-h incubation period amounted to 1.16% (S.E. = +/- 0.39) of the total radioactivity. The medium [131I]thyroxine represented 15--25% of the total [131I]thyroxine synthesized during the 6 h of incubation. Thyrotropin, 1--60 munits/ml, increased the medium [131I]thyroxine content 2-4 fold. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP mimicked the effect of thyrotropin. The amount of medium [131]thyroxine was strictly related to the amount of incubated cells but was independent of the volume of the incubation medium. When prelabeled cells were incubated in the presence of methimazole the increase in medium [131I]thyroxine was quantitatively related to a decrease in the intracellular [131I]thyroxine. Addition of dinitrotyrosine, an inhibitor of the deiodinase activity, induced the release of iodotyrosines in the incubation medium. That the incubation supernatant of isolated thyroid cells did contain free thyroxine but not iodotyrosines suggests that the normal mechanisms of proteolysis of thyroglobulin and deiodination of iodotyrosines inside the cells are preserved. From these data, it was concluded that the thyroxine release by isolated cells represents a real secretion.