Collection, Processing and Fractionation of Human Pituitary Glands1

Abstract

This paper describes a new series of procedures for collecting, processing and extracting human pituitary glands, which is characterized by speed, simplicity and extraction efficiency. Thioethanol plays an important role throughout the procedures. The more vigorous extracting methods [(NH₄)₂SO₄, organic solvents and concentrated acid] are avoided. The yields of GH and TSH exceed those obtained by other methods; those of FSH, LH, prolactin and ACTH are comparable to yields of previous methods. The GH fraction contains 290±59 mg/mg of pituitary powder, has a potency of 0.6–1.3 USP units/mg, and is low in hormonal contamination. The yield of TSH is 3× as great as that from acetone-collected glands. When the fractionation procedure is applied to acetonecollected glands, the results are similar, except that the yield of TSH is much less and the separation of GH and prolactin activities from TSH, FSH and LH is less complete.