Parathyroid hormone content distinguishes true normal parathyroids from parathyroids of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the pathophysiology of primary hyperparathyroidism by looking for differences between parathyroids from eucalcemic patients and patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT) with respect to the following parameters: intracellular parathyroid content of parathyroid hormone (PTH) and parathyroid hormone messenger RNA (PTH mRNA); and serum PTH and calcium levels of patients and patient age. Coded samples of human parathyroid biopsies were assayed for PTH content with a C-terminal-specific radioimmunoassay. Total cellular RNA was extracted, and PTH mRNA was quantified by dot-blot analysis.

DNA index and ploidy distinguish normal human parathyroids from parathyroid adenomas and primary hyperplastic parathyroids.

Background: The goal of this study was to identify factors that might aid in diagnosis and intraoperative management of hyperparathyroidism.

Methods: We analyzed biopsy specimens of 242 parathyroids from 159 patients by use of flow cytometry and image cytometry (ICM) for DNA index (DI), defined as the content of nuclear DNA compared with that expected for a DNA diploid standard, for proliferative index (PI), and for ploidy (diploid versus aneuploid or tetraploid).

Results: True normal and normal parathyroids from patients with solitary adenomas were uniformly diploid.