Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Vol 73, 818-823, Copyright © 1991 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Metabolic clearance of human follicle-stimulating hormone assessed by radioimmunoassay, immunoradiometric assay, and in vitro Sertoli cell bioassay

RJ Urban, V Padmanabhan, I Beitins and JD Veldhuis
Department of Internal Medicine, NSF Science Center, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville 22908.

We measured the equilibrium MCR of purified human FSH via continuous infusion and its half-life by bolus injection in gonadotropin-deficient men. Serum FSH concentrations were determined by RIA, immunoradiometric assay, and an in vitro FSH bioassay (rat Sertoli cell). At steady state, the MCR of FSH averaged 5.4 +/- 0.4 mL/min.m2, which was not statistically different in the three assays at the three different infusion rates. The half-life of FSH after bolus injection averaged 274 +/- 45 min (4.6 +/- 0.75 h) when analyzed as a single exponential, and 1.8 and 10 h for biexponential kinetics. The distribution volume of FSH was 3.1 L (immunoradiometric assay) and 2.1 L (bioassay). In summary, the MCR of human FSH is invariant across a range of physiological gonadotropin concentrations and quantitatively similar in three different immunological/biological assays. These results support the hypothesis that removal of circulating FSH molecules proceeds in parallel for immunoreactive and biologically active glycoprotein hormone.

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