The differences of susceptibility of the target thyroid gland to autoimmune thyroiditis and of antigenicity of thyroid gland for induction of experimental autoimmune thyroiditis.

By using a recently developed method for producing thyroiditis in mice consisting of implantation of a fresh thyroid gland into the peritoneal cavity or under the capsule of the kidney with subsequent injection of lipopolysaccharide, differences were shown in susceptibility of the target thyroid gland to autoimmune destruction and in antigenicity of the thyroid gland for induction of experimental autoimmune thyroiditis. Using recombinant congenic mice, the H-2 haplotypes of the target thyroid gland were found to be as important as those of the immune system in development of autoimmune thyroiditis. On the other hand, the H-2 haplotypes of the thyroid gland are unimportant for induction of autoimmune thyroiditis.