Herman T. Blumenthal

The Aging Thyroid: I. A Description of Lesions and an Analysis of Their Age and Sex Distribution

Two types of follicular change in the thyroid are described. The first represents an involutional change in which colloid cysts (macrofollicles) are often found. The second represents a hyperplastic‐dysplastic (microfollicular) lesion. Two types of change in calcitonin (C) cells are also described, one of which may represent an involutional process, although this is not certain. The second is a hyperplastic (micronodular) lesion, but without evidence of dysplasia. An infiltration of lymphocytes is also commonly encountered.

Survival of guinea pig thyroid and parathyroid autotransplants previously subjected to extremely low temperatures.

Summary Thyroid gland of guinea pig was subjected to low temperatures (−70°, or −190°C) and subsequently autotransplanted. In some instances pituitary thyrotropin was administered before or after transplantation in order to increase the growth potential of the transplant and overcome the injurious effects incident to transferring the tissue. There was one successful transplantation of thyroid gland in 12 attempts after exposure at −70°C and one parathyroid transplant. Eight viable thyroid grafts in 12 attempts were obtained after immersion at −190°C. The significance of these findings with respect to rapidity of freezing is discussed in their relation to the mechanism of survival of mammalian cells and tissues exposed to extremely low temperature. The relation of these results to evidence purported to indicate a viral transmission of transplanted frozen-dehydrated tumor material is also pointed out.

The Aging Thyroid: II. An Immunocytochemical Analysis of the Age-Associated Lesions

This study utilizing immunocytochemical techniques consists of two segments, 1) an analysis of the changes with age in the hormone content of normal, involuting, macro‐and microfollicles, as well as calcitonin (C) cells, and 2) an analysis of the components of the lesion characteristic of lymphocytic thyroiditis.

The Aging-Disease Dichotomy Is Alive, but Is It Well?

“To draw a distinction between disease and normal aging is to separate the undefined from the undefineable.”

Age difference in the intestinal phosphomonoesterase activity of mice.

The intestinal mucosal cells have been shown to contain specific phosphatases along with a group of nonspecific phosphomonoesterases. Ockerman (1) has shown the presence of a glucose 6-phosphatase in the microsomal fraction of the jejunal mucosal cells. A Na+, K+, activated adenosine triphosphatase activity has been shown to reside in the cell membrane fraction (2, 3). Whereas the adenosine triphosphatase has been implicated in the action of the intestinal sugar pump (4), the metabolic function of glucose-6-phosphatase awaits elucidation. While the precise roles of the intestinal phosphatases remain unknown, their involvement in the processes of mucosal transport and metabolism is a good possibility. The present report is concerned with changes in the intestinal phosphomonoesterase activity in relation to the age of the animal. This study was undertaken in view of the possibility that the process of aging may have an influence on the behavior of the enzyme apparatus which in turn may suggest changes in the intestinal metabolic and absorptive functions. Materials and Methods. The homogenate and the cell membrane fraction used in this study as the sources of enzyme were prepared from two groups of female mice of B6D2F1/J strain (The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine). One of these, consisting of 11-month-old mice weighing 34.0 + 2.0 g, is referred to in this paper as the adult group. The other group was comprised of 34-month-old animals weighing 26 + 1.5 g and is referred to as the aged group. 1 The animals were sacrificed after a 24-hr fast. The entire small intestine was removed, everted, and scraped on a chilled glass surface by means of a glass slide. Two-tenths percent (w/v) homogenates of mucosal scraping were prepared, in a diluent of one part Krebs-Ringer-bicarbonate and three parts tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane-HCl (Tris) buffer adjusted to pH 8.00. The homogenate was centrifuged at 1000g for 40 min, and the resulting sediment was suspended in the Krebs-Ringer-bicarbonate and Tris mixture to a final volume equal to that of the homogenate used in obtaining that amount of sediment.

The Biopathology of Aging of the Endocrine System: The Parathyroid Glands

his is the second of a series of studies directed at a systematic analysis of the biopathology of aging T in the endocrine system, the first of which dealt with the thyroid gland.’,’ The format adopted for this series consists of a review of the literature with appropriate insertions of studies of our own. The latter derive from a single autopsy population in which differences in the patterns of aging changes in various endocrine glands can be identified and the frequency of these patterns in the same individual determined. The 1