Thyroid Hormone Metabolism

This book contains a collection of 26 papers that were presented at an International Symposium in Glasgow, Scotland, August, 1974. It is divided into two sections entitled "Metabolism and Binding" (15 papers) and "Thyroid Hormone Function in Clinical Investigation" (11 papers). The first section begins with an authoritative review by J. Robbins on the structure and function of serum thyroxine-transport proteins, and is followed by an interesting study (Blake et al.) on the X-ray diffraction analysis of one such protein, human serum prealbumin. Crystalline prealbumin contains two symmetrically equivalent binding sites (10 A apart) for the iodothyronines. The remainder of the first section deals with cellular binding of thyroxine and triiodothyronine, metabolism of the hormones, and thyroid hormone action. The clinically oriented second section contains studies on the determination of urinary and serum thyroxine and triiodothyronine, and serum TSH and thyroxinebinding globulin assays as applied to the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases. Studies on the kinetics of renal uptake and turnover of the thyroid hormones are also reported. A short foreword has been written by Rosalind Pitt-Rivers, a famous pioneer in thyroid research, and discussion summaries of all the papers appear at the end of each section. This volume should be of interest to all thyroidologists, but its price may discourage many from purchasing it.