Body fluid volumes and their relation to mean arterial pressure and plasma renin activity (PRA) were examined in heminephrectomized rats after 4 wk of treatment with deoxy-corticosterone acetate (DOCA) and placed on one of three levels of salt intake, either high (D-HS), normal (D-NS), or low (D-LS); sham-operated rats, which received heminephrectomy and no DOCA treatment, also received high (S-HS), normal (S-NS), or low (S-LS) intakes of salt. Body fluid volumes were measured as the distribution volumes of radioiodinated serum albumin, 35SO4, and tritiated water for plasma volume (PV), extracellular fluid volume (EFV), and total body water (TBW), respectively. Approximately the same degrees of hypertension occurred in the D-HS and D-NS rats, but the D-LS rats were normotensive. PV and EFV were increased only in the D-HS rats, with no prominent changes occurring in the D-NS rats. Intracellular fluid volume (ICF) was not changed in the D-NS rats when compared with the S-NS rats. The ratios of PV/EFV and EFV/TBW in the DOCA-treated groups on high or normal salt were not different from their controls. PRA was greatly suppressed in the D-HS and D-NS rats when compared with all other groups. In another group of D-HS rats, sodium was restricted for 2 wk; in this group the mean arterial pressure fell to control levels without significant changes in PV, but interstitial fluid volume was reduced to normal levels. These results demonstrated that 1) in DOCA-salt hypertensive rats there is expansion of body fluid volumes that are proportionally distributed among the PV, EFV, and ICF; 2) increases in body fluid volumes are not necessary for DOCA to maintain hypertension; 3) a certain minimal amount of dietary sodium is necessary for the development and maintenance of hypertension; and 4) following DOCA treatment the suppression of PRA is not due solely to expansion of body fluid volumes.

We have measured the population of Killer (K) lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of 108 patients with various kinds of thyroid disease. In the patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease, the relative and absolute numbers of K-lymphocytes were significantly lower than those seen in healthy controls (p<0.001), and the longer the duration of medication, the lower the K-lymphocyte population.However, there was no apparent correlation between the serum titers of thyroid autoantibodies and the K-lymphocyte population.In the patients with malignant and benign thyroid tumors, the relative and absolute numbers of K-lymphocytes significantly decreased when compared with those of controls (p<0.001), the decrease was more prominent after surgical operation than before operation.A prominent decrease in the K-lymphocyte population was evoked to maximum 2 to 4weeks after surgical operation. The patients with both malignant and benign tumors having abundant lymphocytic infiltration in their surgical specimens generally revealed a lower K-lymphocyte population than those having no lymphocytic infiltration.

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A comparative study was performed by the use of immunoperoxidase staining of 11 cases of thyroid microcarcinoma and 7 cases of clinically manifested thyroid carcinoma. Antibodies against four kinds of cytoskeletal proteins and thyroglobulin were used. In both the microcarcinoma and manifested carcinoma groups, actin and myosin were found in almost all neoplastic cells of all patients, and keratin and vimentin were present in the tumor cells of several patients. Keratin was found only in papillary carcinoma cells. Thyroglobulin was present in the neoplastic cells of several patients from each group; follicular carcinoma cells and keratin-negative cells reacted more strongly with thyroglobulin than did papillary carcinoma cells or keratin-positive cells. There was no special difference between microcarcinoma and clinically manifested carcinoma in the location of cytoskeletal proteins and thyroglobulin.

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