COLUMN CHROMATOGRAPHY OF THYROID GLAND HYDROLYSATES*

Abstract

THE constitution of proteins containing iodine has been the subject of study since Baumann's discovery of the occurrence of iodine in the thyroid gland. The investigations of Kendall (1) and of Harington (2) established, by classic chemical methods of isolation and characterization, the presence of thyroxine and diiodotyrosine in thyroid gland protein; and Ludwig and von Mutzenbecher (3) recovered these amino acids and also monoiodotyrosine from iodinated casein. Pitt-Rivers (4) has recently analyzed critically the methods for the identification and measurement of the iodinated components of natural and artificial thyroproteins. The past decade has witnessed the development of chromatographic methods as powerful analytic tools and their application as aids in the separation and identification of the components of a variety of biologic systems (5). In the field of thyroid biochemistry the use of partition chromatography on paper in conjunction with radioactive iodine as an indicator (6) has been particularly fruitful.