DETERMINATION OF MELANOCYTE-STIMULATING HORMONE IN URINE AND BLOOD*

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Abstract
SINCE 1926, sporadic reports have appeared on the presence of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) in mammalian urine and blood. Because many of these studies were performed with inadequate techniques, and because present-day methods make possible the quantitative detection of MSH in minute amounts with an in vitro bioassay method, it was decided to clarify this problem by determining the MSH in the urine and blood of patients with various disorders. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Urinary MSH. Collin and Drouet (1) observed the color change of intact frogs after the injection of human urine. Darkening was produced with urine from patients with pituitary tumors, hyperthyroidism, migraine, and retinal hemorrhage. Positive results also were obtained with the urine of normal females, which was obtained the day prior to, or on the first day of menstruation. Konsuloff (2) used hypophysectomized frogs and found that urine from 9 pregnant women contained large amounts of MSH. He suggested that the demonstration of this substance in the urine could be used as a test for pregnancy. Mandelstamm (3) injected urine from a variety of patients into the stickleback and observed darkening following the use of urine from pregnant females but not from nonpregnant ones. Umezawa (4) noticed darkening of intact frogs injected with urine from cancer patients, and he proposed a diagnostic cancer test based on this finding.