Desialylation of human pituitary FSH inactivates the biologic but not the immunologic activity of the hormone. This study was undertaken to study the effects of desialylation on immunologic and biologic activities of human urinary FSH. Three different urinary FSH preparations were subjected to graded desialylation by enzymatic hydrolysis. All showed enhanced immunoreactivity, probably secondary to exposure of new antigenic sites. When desialylation was greater than 10%, all preparations showed progressive loss of biologic activity. Sialic acid content affects both biologic and immunologic activities of human urinary FSH. Immunologic and biologic activities need not be identical for any given FSH preparation.
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Vaitukaitis et al. (1971) studied this question.