The effect of thyroxin on the respiratory and nitrogenous metabolism of normal and myxedematous subjects

Studies in Blood Volume

“…Eppinger believed in fact that increased tissue albumen accounted for all types of edema. Boothby et al (51) confirmed the observation of Magnus-Levy and showed that the nitrogen-water ratio of the weight lost by one normal and by each of two myxedematous individuals as a result of intravenous thyroxin administration was 1.9, 2.0 and 1.9 per cent respectively. These authors, therefore, concluded that the edema of myxedema ' corresponds apparently to an increase in the reserve or deposit protein" and "is an albuminous colloid fluid with a nitrogen-water ratio higher than the average of 1.1 per cent for human blood serum and identical with that of egg white which contains approximately 2 per cent nitrogen, and definitely less than that of muscle which contains over 3 per cent."…”

Tissue Protein Studies in Normal and Undernourished Males: The Changes in Total Circulating Protein After an Intravenous Saline Infusion as an Index of Protein Stores 1

“…Total circulating protein determinations, alone, may also convey an erroneous impression as to the subject's nutrition. We believe an [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] intravenous saline infusion of at least 1000 ml. is a sufficient stimulus to either increase or decrease total circulating protein and so differentiate a normal state of protein nutrition, in the first instance, from a state of protein depletion in the second case.…”

“…Allison (2) has stated: "The amount of nitrogen excreted when the animal is eating a protein-free diet is a measure of the magnitude of the protein stores of the body, being high when the labile cytoplasmic proteins are in abundance and being low when these stores are depleted." Boothby et al (10) and Deuel et al (11) did similar work in humans, using intravenous thyroxin to increase metabolism in an attempt to evaluate protein stores in man. Such a procedure is not practical for routine evaluation of the state of protein nutrition in clinical patients.…”

Quantitative observations on thyroxine and allied substances

“…The rats have usually developed tetany after the operation, but they were given milk, and except in one or two cases the symptoms disappeared within 24 hours under this treatment and did not recur when the rats returned to their synthetic diet. The absence of thyroid tissue has been confirmed post-mortem, in most cases by microscopical examination of sections of tissues in the region from which the gland had been removed.…”

“…2 (24). In view of these results it was decided not to attempt to compare the effects of different substances on the same rat.…”