STUDIES ON THE TURN-OVER OF SIMULTANEOUSLY INJECTED GUINEA-PIG ALBUMIN-125I AND THYROXINE-131I IN SKIN, WOUNDS AND LIVER OF GUINEA PIGS

ABSTRACT The distribution of simultaneously injected 125I-labelled guinea-pig albumin and 131I-labelled thyroxine in the skin, skin-wounds and liver of guinea-pigs has been investigated. In the plasma albumin was retained in larger amounts than thyroxine but the activities decreased from 2–24 hours after the injection (h. p. i.) at exactly the same rate. In the liver the uptake of thyroxine was considerably higher than that of albumin, but both decreased at the same rate as in the plasma. In the skin thyroxine was also taken up in relatively larger amounts than albumin at 2 and 6 h. p. i.; thyroxine decreased at the same rate as in the plasma, while the uptake of albumin increased. In 7-day wounds the thyroxine content was only a little higher than in normal skin at 2 h. p. i. while the albumin content had markedly increased; thyroxine decreased and albumin increased at the same rates as in skin. Fresh wounds showed a very high uptake of both albumin and thyroxine with no decrease from 2–24 h. p. i.; the relation between the amounts was close to – but significantly different from – that seen in plasma. The results clearly indicate that albumin and thyroxine move quite independently of each other in skin, old skin-wounds and liver. In fresh wounds, however, there is a constant thyroxine-albumin ratio during the experimental period.