Use of combined biological and chemical purification procedures in the separation of follicle-stimulating hormone from rat pituitary tissue.

Abstract

In the rat, orchidectomy, followed by androgen and thyroglobulin treatment, increased the FSH content of the adenohypophysis, while decreasing its LH and TSH contents. Use of glands prepared in this way, for the biochemical purification of FSH, yielded a final product with a higher FSH⁄LH ratio (> 160,000: 1) than any other FSH preparation yet reported, regardless of the species of origin. (Endocrinology 87: 201, 1970) BECAUSE of the small size of the rat adenohypophysis, discouragingly large numbers of rat pituitary glands are needed for the extraction and purification procedures (1) used to separate follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) from the other pituitary glycoprotein hormones: LH (luteinizing hormone) and TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone). The study we are reporting had 2 objectives: first, to see whether a combination of treatments could be developed which would increase the FSH content of rat adenohypophysis in vivo, while decreasing its LH and TSH contents; second, to see whether highly purified ...