Etiopathology of Feline Toxic Nodular Goiter

ANIMAL MODELS OF DISEASE: Feline hyperthyroidism: an animal model for toxic nodular goiter

“…Other studies of monolayer hyperthyroid cell culture, however, found no effect of TSH on 3 H-thymidine uptake in hyperthyroid cells (Gerber et al 1991), illustrating that cells from different feline goiters may show a high degree of heterogeneity in culture. Overall, these data reinforce the idea that feline toxic nodular goiter cells have a high level of basal, unstimulated activity with dysregulated growth and hormone synthesis, as would be expected in autonomous cells (Gerber et al 1994, Ward et al 2005a). …”

“…Plummer's disease; Gerber et al 1994, Khan & Nose 2010. Histopathological examination of tissues reveal that the thyroid glands of cats with hyperthyroidism contain single or multiple hyperplastic or adenomatous nodules ranging in size from !1 mm to 3 cm diameter (Hoenig et al 1982, Carpenter et al 1987, Peter et al 1987; Fig.…”

“…Because feline hyperthyroidism most often results from benign adenomatous nodules of the thyroid gland, it is both clinically and pathologically similar to toxic nodular goiter or Plummer's disease in humans (Hoenig et al 1982, Carpenter et al 1987, Gerber et al 1994, Paschke 2013). Similar to human toxic nodular goiter, this feline disease is a progressive disease, with cats transitioning from a subclinical stage to overt hyperthyroidism as the automatous thyroid nodules increase in size (Wakeling et al 2007, 2011, Broome & Peterson 2014, Peterson & Broome 2014a).…”

“…Similar to human toxic nodular goiter, this feline disease is a progressive disease, with cats transitioning from a subclinical stage to overt hyperthyroidism as the automatous thyroid nodules increase in size (Wakeling et al 2007, 2011, Broome & Peterson 2014, Peterson & Broome 2014a). As such, this disease offers a unique animal model for the study of toxic nodular goiter, as well as other disorders associated with benign neogeneration of endocrine tissue ranging from simple hyperplasia and adenomatous hyperplasia to true adenoma (Gerber et al 1994, Derwahl & Studer 2002.…”

“…In other studies, isolated thyroid follicular cells from normal and hyperthyroid cats were enzymatically digested and grown in a monolayer cell culture to evaluate both thyroglobulin production and DNA synthesis (Gerber et al 1994, Ward et al 2005a. TSH stimulated mitogenesis and thyroglobulin expression in both normal and hyperthyroid cells, but a higher concentration of TSH was needed to maximally stimulate both activities in the hyperthyroid cells (Ward et al 2005a).…”