ABSTRACT
An improved method for the determination of serum triiodothyronine (T3) has been developed. After addition of a tracer amount of the hormone, T3 was extracted from 1 ml serum under conditions of pH and ionic strength which favoured T3 extraction (89%) over thyroxine (T4) extraction (58%). Chromatography of the extracted material on Sephadex LH-20 separated T3 completely from residual T4. The T3 eluate was dried, then re-dissolved in 0.5 ml NaOH 0.04 n. To 0.2 ml duplicate aliquots, a standard amount of TBG was added for the competitive protein analysis. After one hour incubation at 4°C, separation of bound from free T3 was achieved on small Sephadex G-25 columns. Overall recovery was 67 ± 10.8% and correction for the loss was made. The solvent blank was 37 ± 27 (sd) ng/100 ml. Accuracy of measurement of known quantities of T3 added to serum was 98.4%. The coefficient of variation within the assay was 6.2% and between the assays it was 11.4%. The limit of detection (0.1 ng) corresponded to a concentration of 25 ng/100 ml. T4 added to serum did not interfere with T3 determination until high non-physiological values were reached. The mean ± sd serum T3 in 54 euthyroid subjects was 153 ± 58 ng/100 ml and in 24 hyperthyroid patients it was 428 ±186 ng/100 ml; 4 out of the 24 hyperthyroid values were within 2 sd of the mean euthyroid group. All the values found in the euthyroid group were well above the limit of detection of the method.
