THE EFFECT OF PIG PITUITARY ACTH FRACTIONS ON DIFFERENT PARAMETERS OF ADRENOCORTICAL ACTIVITY

Abstract

Purified unhydrolyzed corticotrophin was separated into five fractions by chromatography on a column of carboxymethyl cellulose, using pyridine – acetic acid as a buffer system. These fractions were biologically assayed by means of the in vitro technique of Saffran and Schally, the adrenal ascorbic acid depletion test of Sayers et al., and an assay based on the increase of plasma corticosterone levels in hypophysectomized rats. In the in vivo assays both the intravenous and subcutaneous routes of injection were applied.The principal aim of this study was to investigate for each separate fraction the extent to which the potencies according to the Sayers test correspond with the potencies obtained by the plasma corticosterone method. When comparing results found after identical routes of injection, a fair agreement was observed for those fractions showing electrophoretic relationship and together accounting for the major part of the biological activity of the starting material. However, the minor fractions showed significant differences.These findings are discussed together with the results of the classical assay methods and their deviations from data reported in the literature.