Characterization of human growth hormone from acromegalic pituitary tumors

Human growth hormone (HGH) was extracted from acromegalic pituitary tumors at pH 10.5 and precipitated with ammonium sulfate at 20-40% saturation. It was purified on a Sephadex G-100 column to yield monomeric HGH. The tumor-HGH was indistinguishable from the authentic one in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at pH 8.3 or in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate, high-performance liquid chromatography, radioimmunoassay, peptide map, amino acid composition and N-terminal partial amino acid sequence. The tumor-HGH is active in the tibia assay and bodyweight gain test in hypophysectomized rats with comparable potency to that of the authentic sample.