Purification of human pituitary LH and thyrotrophin by hydrophobic chromatography

A new preparative procedure is described for the efficient purification of LH and TSH from frozen human pituitary glands. LH and TSH were isolated simultaneously from crude preparations by hydrophobic-interaction chromatography followed by separation and purification by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography in a single step. Highly purified hormones were prepared in good yields (45 mg LH and 20 mg TSH/1000 glands) and with high biological activities; the potencies of purified LH and TSH were 5.8 x NIH-LH-S1 equivalent in an ovarian ascorbic acid depletion assay and 7.1 U/mg against human TSH MRC Research Standard (T1 70/9) in the McKenzie assay respectively. Cross-contamination by other glycoprotein hormones was low.