Separation of human glycoprotein hormones and their subunits by reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Separation of human pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) was effected on a micro-scale by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a SynChropak C1 column in series with a Vydac C4 column using a linear gradient of acetonitrile in 0.1 M triethylamine phosphate buffer at pH 6.5. Chromatography on the C4 column alone caused partial dissociation of FSH into its subunits, whereas LH and TSH remained intact. Good yields of the separated subunits were obtained after prior dissociation of each hormone, and the results show that reversed-phase HPLC is useful for the analytical and preparative separation of these structurally related hormones and their subunits.