Coated vesicles from the thyroid gland: isolation, characterization, and a search for a possible role in thyroglobulin transport.

We report the first isolation of purified coated vesicles (CVs) from thyroid gland. Bovine thyroid CVs were isolated by differential centrifugation, including a step through sucrose-D2O, using a modification of the method described by Nandi et al. (1) for bovine brain CVs. The CVs were characterized by electron microscopy, sedimentation properties, and SDS-PAGE of the protein components. Thyroglobulin (Tg) was found to be associated with the purified CVs. When the thyroid CVs were exposed to conditions known to remove the protein coat from brain CVs, such as low ionic strength at pH 8.5, most of the Tg dissociated from the vesicles along with the coat proteins. Moreover, the Tg remaining with the uncoated vesicles (UVs) was trypsin sensitive, and therefore judged to be associated with the external surface of the vesicle. Since ligand-receptor complexes are normally located within CVs and not on their outer surface, no evidence was found for Tg-receptor complexes within thyroid CVs. Thyroid slices were incubated in the presence of [35S] methionine with subsequent isolation of labeled CVs in order to study the incorporation of newly-synthesized proteins into these structures. At 0.5 and 2 hours of incubation, the 180K MW subunit of clathrin, as well as other proteins, but not Tg, had become labeled in the purified CVs. Extracellular 19S-[35S] thyroglobulin was isolated from the incubation medium, however, demonstrating release of newly-synthesized Tg (presumably into cut follicles). It is concluded that thyroid CVs do not seem to be involved in the secretion of newly-synthesized Tg from the rough endoplasmic reticulum into the follicular lumen. While a possible role of thyroid CVs in the reabsorption of small quantities Tg by micropinocytosis cannot be completely excluded, the present data do not support a primary role for thyroid CVs in either endocytosis or exocytosis of Tg.