Partial Purification and Separation of Urinary Gonadotrophins of Nonpregnant Humans1

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Abstract
A major separation and considerable purification of the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH, ICSH) activities present in gonadotrophin concentrates prepared from urine of eunuchs were attained by column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The principal FSH fraction was 4.1 times more potent than NIH-FSH-S1, according to the augmentation assay of Steelman and Pohley. Contamination with LH activity was relatively low, 0.0021 XNIH-LH-S1 per mg, according to the ovarian ascorbic acid depletion assay of Parlow. Expressed in terms of the IRP-HMG-(24), the FSH potency of the purified eunuch fraction was 780 U/mg and the LH potency was 6.5 U/mg. The principal eunuch LH fraction, 0.013 times as potent as NIH-LH-S1, was virtually devoid of FSH activity (less than 0.02 times as potent as NIH-FSH-S1 per mg). The ratio of FSH: LH activity in the FSH fraction was at least 1300 times higher than this ratio in the LH fraction. FSH and LH fractions similar to those described above were also prepared from gonadotrophin concentrates derived from the urine of postmenopausal women. These results support the view that the gonadotrophins of urine, like those of human pituitary tissue, are separable.