STUDIES ON EXPERIMENTAL HYPOPROTEINEMIA IN HYPOTHYROIDISM

Abstract

No definite theory has yet been advanced regarding the causative factor in Lipoid-nephrosis. It has been pointed out that renal impairment is connected with hypo-thyroidism, and hence under the view that there might exist a relationship between hypothyroidism and development of nephrosis, plasmapheresis was carried out in rabbits in which a state of hypothyroidism had been induced by thyroidectomy or methyl-thiouracil (methiocil) injection. Investigation was directed mainly to plasma-proteins, serumcholesterol and histological changes, and the following results were obtained.
1). Hypothyroidism causes in general decrease in albumin and increase in globulin, especially γ-Globulin.
2). Plasmapheresis alone does not induce hypoproteinemia, but when it is put into operation in the group with hypothyroidism, there results decrease in both total proteins and albumin, and γ-globulin also shows a tendency to diminish again. The above suggests that the thyroid gland has an intimate relationship to formation and regulation of plasma-proteins.
3). Hypothyroidism increases in serum-cholesterol, and when the plasmapheresis is repeated in addition to it, there results a further increase, which is often 2 or 3 times larger than the preoperative normal value.
4). When the thyroidfunction is lowered or when the plasmapheresis is repeated during hypothyroidism, albuminuria is observed in some cases.
5). Histologically, the epithelia of the renal tubules in some cases showed cloudy swelling and fatty degeneration.
6). Experimentally, a condition corresponiding to entirety of nephrosis could not be induced, but pathological changes bearing some resemblance to that of nephrosis were obtained, and it was elucidated that hypothyroidism is intimately related to the development of nephrosis.