Abstract
MOST of the data accumulated in the past thirty-two years1 has led to the conclusion that parathyroid hormone is a protein. In 1954, Handler, Cohn and Dratz2 attempted to purify this hormone by means of ion-exchange chromatography, but found hormonal activity associated with a number of protein peaks. On the basis of their results, they suggested that the hormonal activity might reside in a smaller molecule, presumably not necessarily nitrogenous, which readily absorbs on proteins. Raoul, Mornay and Prelot3 have recently claimed to have prepared, by two different lipid extraction methods, a highly active material which did not contain nitrogen. On the basis of unreported evidence, they suggested that this active substance was steroidal in nature. Since the D vitamins, which are steroid, closely mimic, in some respects, the action of parathyroid hormone on bone and kidney, the possibility that this hormone is a steroid merits consideration.
References
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Handler, P., Cohn, D. U., and Dratz, A. F., in “Metabolic Interrelations with Special Reference to Calcium”, trans. 5th Josiah Macy Conf., 320 (Progress Associated, Inc., New York, 1954).
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RASMUSSEN, H., WESTALL, R. Chemical Nature of Parathyroid Hormone. Nature 180, 1429 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/1801429a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1801429a0
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