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Antisera raised against domestic fowl transthyretin (thyroxine-binding prealbumin) and quail albumin were used to identify thyroxine-binding proteins in the plasma of White storks (Ciconia ciconia) and to measure seasonal changes in these proteins. Three plasma proteins were shown to bind thyroxine (T4). They were albumin, transthyretin and a protein with an electrophoretic mobility on non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis intermediate between albumin and transthyretin. There was no thyroxine-binding globulin. The plasma concentrations of transthyretin and albumin were measured in male and female storks exposed to the photoperiodic and climatic conditions experienced during an annual cycle at 46 degrees N, 11 degrees E. The storks were in four age groups, fledglings and 1-, 2- and 3-year-old birds. A strong correlation (P less than 0.001) was found between daylength and the concentration of transthyretin during the period from February to August in the 1-, 2- and 3-year-old male and female storks, with peak values of 150-210 mg/l in May, June and July coinciding with the annual moult. Between September and January the concentration of plasma transthyretin was low, ranging between 80 and 100 mg/l. The concentration of plasma albumin was not correlated with seasonal changes in daylength and did not change during moult. It is suggested that seasonally high concentrations of plasma transthyretin may have a physiological role in moult.

The disappearance of the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4) from plasma in fully grown male Japanese quail can be described as a first order process with a rate constant of 0.178 +/- 0.013/h (mean +/- S.E.M., n = 8), which represents a half-life of 3.90 h. A small amount of [125I]T4 in relation to total circulating T4 was injected i.v. into Japanese quail and plasma samples were taken at appropriate time-intervals for the determination of residual plasma radioactivity. The rate of disappearance of [125I]T4 was subsequently equated to the turnover rate of the endogenous hormone. Previous methods were modified to overcome problems arising from possible disturbance of plasma T4 metabolism, recirculation of radiolabelled iodide, and to purify the [125I]T4 from the plasma samples. By using labelled T4 of very high specific activity, the amount of [125I]T4 administered was kept much smaller than has been used in previous studies on Japanese quail, thus limiting any interference with plasma T4 dynamics. To minimize any disturbance of plasma T4 metabolism, only four blood samples were taken, at three-hourly intervals after the injection of [125I]T4. The rapid turnover of T4 produced a large amount of labelled inorganic iodide, the re-entry of which into the plasma T4 pool was inhibited by s.c. administration of sodium thiocyanate 1 h before injection of [125I]T4. Assay of the true [125I]T4 turnover was significantly improved over that used in previous studies by purifying the [125I]T4 from the plasma samples chromatographically. The samples were applied to small Sephadex G-25 columns with sodium hydroxide (0.1 mol/l) as the eluant.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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