Isolation of Lh, FSH and TSH From Human Pituitaries After the Removal of HGH

Highly purified human LH, FSH and TSH were isolated from batches of 300 frozen pituitary glands (200 g) by pH, acetone and ethanol fractionation, Sephadex gel filtration, ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and CM-Sephadex, and preparative polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. Sodium dodecyl-sulphate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was used in order to check the purity, the identity and the molecular weight of the purified LH, FSH and TSH. This procedure showed that the hormone preparations consisted of two subunits with molecular weights of: LH: 21 300 and 17 900, FSH: 22 100 and 18 300 and TSH: 20 800 and 16 400. The purity of the hormone preparations was also evaluated by analytical disc electrophoresis at pH 8.9. The purified hormone preparations had radioimmunological activity as follows: LH: 20 000 IU/mg, FSH: 16 500 IU/mg and TSH: 5 IU/mg. All preparations had high biological potency.