Rate of protein transport in thyroid follicle cells of normal, thyroxine-treated and TSH-injected rats

The transport of labeled protein in thyroid follicles was studied with quantitative electron microscopic autoradiography in normal and T4-treated rats (2d) injected with 3H-leucine 1 to 6 h before perfusion fixation. During this time interval the total amount of labeled protein in either group was unchanged, although T4-treatment caused a reduction by about 30% of the amount of 3H-leucine incorporated into protein. The autoradiographic data were corrected for the effect of scatter of radioactivity. The relative amounts of labeled, exportable protein in the compartments Er-Golgi and exocytotic vesicles were then estimated. The half-lives of labeled, exportable protein in these compartments were calculated with non-linear regression analysis. In normal rats the half-life of labeled, exportable protein in ER-Golgi was 28 min and in the exocytotic vesicles 18 min. Inhibition of TSH-secretion by injection of thyroxine decreased the rate of protein transport through the follicle cell and increased the half-lives to 63 min (ER-Golgi) and 62 min (exocytotic vesicles). TSH given to thyroxine-treated rats 20 min or 1.5 h before fixation reduced the half-lives of labeled, exportable protein in ER-Golgi to 25 to 33 min and in exocytotic vesicles to 9 min. The findings indicate that TSH regulates the rate of intracellular protein transport in rat thyroid follicle cells at the exocytotic step as well as at an earlier step in the pathway of intracellular protein transport. The mechanism and exact location of the latter TSH regulated step is at present unknown.