Purification and characterization of human chorionic gonadotropin.

Several investigators [2-71 have previously attempted to purify human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). These methods proved to be either too time consuming, not reproducible, or limited to small quantities. In addition, these purified products are difficult to compare because of differences in the methodology of biological and physico-chemical measurements. This paper describes a simple and fast chromatographic method for the preparation of this glycoprotein hormone in a highly purified form. Its characterization was achieved by physico-chemical, biological and immunological methods. The following report deals with the chemical modifications of HCG at specific sites. It provides some information about the importance of certain parts of the molecule for the biological and immunological activity.