Isolation and characterization of porcine and rat relaxin.

Abstract

Hisaw (1926) first reported that experimentally induced “relaxation” of the pubic ligament in guinea pigs was controlled by hormones. In 1930 Fevold, Hisaw, and Meyer (1930) showed that an aqueous extract of sow corpora lutea caused relaxation of the pubic ligament in estrogen-primed, ovariectomized guinea pigs. They named the active substance relaxin. Essentially all subsequent efforts to isolate relaxin employed ovaries obtained from pigs daring late pregnancy since this source of relaxin is known to have a high content of relaxin activity and is relatively easy to acquire. Progress toward the isolation of porcine relaxin was slow. It was not until the 1950’s and early 1960’s when new techniques for the isolation and characterization of proteins, as well as improved methods for relaxin bioassay (Steinetz et al.3 1960, 1969), became available that well documented advancement was made in relaxin purification efforts.