Regarding the validity of the endpoint response of the mouse (McKenzie) bioassay for thyrotrophin (TSH).

Abstract

Abstract. The release of radiolabelled thyroid hormone into the circulation in low iodine fed mice has been used extensively as a bioassay for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). However, the specificity of several bioassays of pituitary hormones have been subject to question. Consequently, the validity of the assay endpoint for TSH in the mouse was re-evaluated with respect to the effect of luteinizing hormone (LH) whose chemical composition closely resembles that of TSH. Mice, prepared for bioassay of TSH received injections of purified LH or α or β subunits of LH. Identical doses of LH and LH subunits were quantified by LH and TSH radioimmunoassays and the results compared with those obtained by the bioassay. Microgram quantities of LH and subunits of LH elicited appreciable responses in the TSH bioassay but produced only negligible effects in the TSH radioimmunoassay. The response of the TSH bioassay of LH and α or β subunits of LH was 40–56% that obtained with LH radioimmunoassay. However, the pituitary concentrations obtained by TSH bioassay when compared with those obtained by radioimmunoassays for TSH, LH, or growth hormone (GH) paralleled closely the TSH radioimmunoassay data, although in terms of quantitative estimates, there was a 15-fold discrepancy between the TSH assays. Estimations of pituitary concentrations of LH lead to the conclusion that, at the doses normally employed, most crude rat pituitary extracts do not contain sufficient quantities of LH to alter significantly bioassayable (McKenzie) estimates of TSH.