Morphological, immunohistochemical and autoradiographic studies of thyroid autonomy

The values and limits of morphological, immunohistochemical and autoradiographic methods in studies of thyroid autonomy are briefly discussed. For meaningful studies of molecular aspects of thyroid autonomy--such as for example TSH receptor and Gs-alpha gene mutations--it is absolutely crucial that the tissue analysed is well characterized and really is autonomous. This is particularly important in view of the well known heterogeneity of human goiter tissue in respect to many if not all functional and proliferative parameters. To prove functional and proliferative autonomy of thyroid tissue, autoradiography is a very helpful tool, while simple morphology and immunohistochemistry do not contribute substantially to this aim.