Complement-fixing antibodies to human growth hormone and sheep interstitial cell stimulating hormone

Abstract

Previous reports from this Laboratory have shown that human growth hormone (HGH) and sheep interstitial cell stimulating hormone (ICSH) produce, in rabbits, precipitin antibodies that are specific to the respective hormones. Immunochemical techniques have been used to characterize these hormones as well as to perform quantitative determinations of small quantities of the hormone. Hæmagglutination inhibition has also been used to study and detect HGH in human serum. The purpose of the present investigation was to study HGH and sheep ICSH by another immunochemical reaction, namely, complement fixation. It may be noted that the complement fixation method is capable of determining quantitatively as little as 0.01 μ gm. of the hormone and is an objective procedure which is more reproducible than the hæmagglutination technique.