The Cytochemical Bioassay Of Polypeptide Hormones (monographs On Endocrinology)

The cytochemical bioassay system was described in a short abstract in 1971, and more fully, in the cytochemical bioassay of corticotrophin, in 1972. Since then, cytochemical bioassays have been described for several polypeptide hormones, and these assays are already widely used. It is expedient that the subject should be reviewed, as it is in this monograph, by one writer who has had the good fortune to have taken part in the growth of cytochemistry from its early origins to its present position as the basis of possibly the most sensitive bioassay system currently available. However, it should be noted that major contributions have been made by many, both to the development of the subject and to the establishment of the bioassays. The object of this preface is to try to give some perspective to the growth of this subject and to record that the cytochemical bioassay system has been fostered by many outstanding scientists in an atmosphere of remarkable goodwill. To begin with, there could have been no cytochemical bioassays until cytochem­ istry had been converted from its rather unsure origins into a precise and quantitative form of cellular biochemistry. This was done with skill and enthusiastic dedication by my colleagues, Dr. Lucille Bitensky, Dr. F. P. Altman, Dr. R. G. L. W. Poulter and Mr. A. A. Silcox, first at the Royal College of Butcher, Dr. Front Matter....Pages I-XIV Nature of Cytochemistry....Pages 1-11 Basic Concepts of Hormone Assays....Pages 12-19 Introduction to Cytochemical Bioassay....Pages 20-42 Maintenance Culture....Pages 43-51 Cytochemical Methods....Pages 52-68 Microdensitometry....Pages 69-79 The Segment Assay of the Adrenocorticotrophic Hormone....Pages 80-93 The Section Assay of Adrenocorticotrophin....Pages 94-99 Application of Cytochemical Bioassays of Adrenocorticotrophin....Pages 100-105 The Assay of Thyroid Stimulators....Pages 106-129 Luteinizing Hormone....Pages 130-139 Gastrin-like Activity....Pages 140-155 Parathyroid Hormone....Pages 156-165 Hypophysiotrophic Hormones: Two-Step Bioassays....Pages 166-170 Prospects: Uses of the Cytochemical Bioassay System....Pages 171-175 Back Matter....Pages 175-210