Somatomedins

Abstract

IT is now over 20 years since Salmon and Daughaday hypothesized that stimulation of growth by growth hormone (somatotropin) was mediated by a circulating "sulfation factor."¹ An understanding of this "factor" was hampered initially by technical problems with bioassay measurements, but recent improvements in methodology and advances in purification have led to increased interest in this area. It has become apparent that "sulfation factor" represents a family of circulating peptides, renamed somatomedins.² These growth factors differ from other peptide hormones in three major ways: they appear to contribute to the same biologic actions; they appear to circulate bound to larger . . .