Relative rates of transcapillary movement of free thyroxine, protein-bound thyroxine, thyroxine-binding proteins, and albumin.

The rate of appearance of labeled thyroxine (T4) and albumin in lymph from various areas after simultaneous i.v. injection of the labeled substances in conscious ambulatory sheep has been used to estimate the relative rates of transcapillary movement of stable T4 and albumin. Labeled T4 appeared in hepatic lymph at the same rate as albumin. In intestinal and leg lymph, labeled T4 appeared eight and four times as rapidly as albumin indicating that T4 crosses capillaries in these areas independently of and much more rapidly than albumin and other proteins having similar distribution kinetics. The lymph:plasma ratios for all the T4-binding proteins including albumin were very similar in any one area showing that the relative fractional rates of transcapillary movement of these proteins were very similar. Therefore in extrahepatic areas, transcapillary movement of T4 in the protein-bound form was quantitatively much less important than in the free form. The findings support earlier views, recently questioned, that free T4 is of considerable physiological significance.