1. Developing oocytes of the Japanese quail accumulated 0.lb44 μg of each 1 μg of 125I‐labelled iodide after intra‐muscular injection of doses up to 500 μg iodide as Nal but only 0.lb007 μg after injection of more than this: the abrupt change in the rate of accumulation was attributed to saturation of the iodide transport mechanism.
2. The proportion of available iodide transferred into the oocytes appeared to be more dependent on the amount of iodide injected and the total weight of growing oocytes than on a requirement for either a store of iodide for the embryo or an iodide excretory pathway for the hen.
3. The thyroid was about four times more active in accumulating iodide than the oocyte.
4. The percentage of iodide accumulated by the plasma was the same at all dose rates.
Notes
Investigation supported by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and the National Research Council of Canada.