Xenotransplantation of cultured newborn pig thyroid tissue for the treatment of post-radioiodine hypothyroidism in rats.

The aim of the present study was to develop atransplantation technique for restoration of thyroidfunction in rats with radioiodine-inducedhypothyroidism. Each Wistar rat received the dose of75.0 muCi of 131-iodine by intraperitonealinjection. The serum thyroxine and triiodothyroninevalues in all rats fell to low levels by 2.5 weeksafter radioiodine administration. Thexenotransplantation of 3-day-old newborn pig thyroidorgan culture was performed on day 18 afterradioactive ablation by injection into the fat tissueof anterior abdominal wall. Epithelial cell swarmswith follicular formation manifested themselves amongadipose tissue on day 7 as well as day 17 afterxenotransplantation. The serum thyroxine andtriiodothyronine values in the rats were generallywithin the euthyroid range by day 7-17 afterxenotransplantation. The thyroid gland of ratsreverted to the norm in morphofunctional appearance.These results indicated that the xenografted newbornpig thyroid organ culture allowed a restoration of thyroid function in Wistar rats with post-radioiodine hypothyroidism.