Radioimmunoassay of Human Follicle Stimulating Hormone /HFSH/

A method for determining Human FSH in blood/serum by RIA is described. The radioiodination of FSH with¹²⁵I is carried out under carefully controlled conditions such as, amount of initial activity of¹²⁵I take for iodination, the reaction volume, and the reaction time, etc. The tracer FSH obtained thus is with minimum damage and optimum specific activity which is ideally suited for RIA. The shelf-life of the tracer is enhanced by the addition of benzyl alchol. The tracer can be conveniently stored at+4–6°C upto 10 weeks, avoiding the repeated freezing and thawing process. Antiserum to FSH is raised in rabbits by repeated injections via intramuscular route. The method utilizes polyethylene glycol /PEG/ as the separation system. Using this method, a number of control samples of men and women of reproductive age group are screened. This sensitive assay has a good validity and has an inter-assay variation less than 15%.