A homologous radioreceptor assay for rat follicle-stimulating hormone

A homologous radioreceptor assay (RRA) for rat FSH (rFSH), which is both sensitive and easy to perform, is described. The receptor preparation is isolated from a 12,000 X G pellet of rat testes homogenate prepared with a high speed tissue grinder using Tris buffer. The sensitivity of the assay extends below 10 ng rFSH RP-1 (approximately 0.13 ng purified I-3 rat FSH), and the range of the assay spans 2 orders of magnitude. The specific binding of the [125I]rFSH tracer is 22-28% of the total tracer added. Such binding, which exceeds previously published values by 2- to 4-fold, allows the addition of relatively small amounts of total tracer radioactivity, which, in turn, contributes to a low nonspecific binding and highly reproducible values for replicates (coefficient of variation, approximately 3.0%). This represents the first homologous RRA for rFSH using testicular receptors. Likewise, the sensitivity and reproducibility exceed those of previous RRAs for rFSH.