Endocytosis of albumin and thyroglobulin at the basolateral membrane of thyrocytes organized in follicles

Serum proteins such as albumin are present inside thyroid follicles in both normal and pathological situations. To analyze the mechanism of entry of these proteins, we investigated the ability of polarized thyrocytes to internalize soluble molecules at their basolateral pole. Experiments were conducted on in vitro reconstituted thyroid follicles using BSA and pig thyroglobulin (Tg) coupled to gold particles for electron microscopy, conjugated to fluorescein for conventional and confocal fluorescence microscopy, or radioiodinated for biochemical measurements. Incubations were carried out at 37 C. BSA and Tg coupled to gold particles were rapidly internalized from the culture medium and sequentially found in small vesicles and early endosomes and in late endosomes and lysosomes. Fluorescence microscope analyses revealed that the majority of cells forming reconstituted thyroid follicles are capable of internalizing BSA and Tg, but that Tg was more efficiently endocytosed than BSA. Using radioiodinated ligands, it was observed that the endocytosis of Tg was 10 times higher than that of BSA. The internalization of [I-125]Tg was inhibited by increasing concentrations of unlabeled Tg. In contrast, endocytosis of I-125-labeled BSA was independent of the unlabeled BSA concentration. Experiments performed at 4 C indicated the presence of a basolateral membrane binding activity for [I-125]Tg; the Tg concentration that reduced the binding of labeled Tg by 50% ranged from 4-6 mu M. These data are evidence of a process of internalization of soluble molecules at the basolateral pole of thyrocytes, with BSA being internalized by fluid phase endocytosis and Tg by selective endocytosis. Our findings explain how serum albumin can enter thyroid follicles and disclose a new cellular handling and transport pathway of Tg. We propose that selective uptake of Tg operating on molecules secreted at the basolateral surface of thyrocytes could control the amount of Tg released in the circulation.