Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research

About: Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Estrone & Estrogen. The organization has 2195 authors who have published 2646 publications receiving 115809 citations. The organization is also known as: Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology.

Chemical properties of a female mouse pheromone that stimulates gonadotropin secretion in males.

Abstract: Female mouse urine contains a pheromone that acts via the vomeronasal organ of conspecific males to stimulate a rapid increase in circulating levels of luteinizing hormone. A bioassay based on this male response was used to test biochemical preparations of female urine. Retention of significant biological activity by the urine after dialysis indicated that the activity is associated with urinary protein. Complete loss of activity from the urine after adsorption chromatography on a neutral polystyrene column suggested that the protein functions as a pheromone carrier. Assay of gel permeation chromatography fractions, before and after degradation of the urinary proteins with proteolytic enzymes, demonstrated that the protein is not necessary for the male response in the bioassay. Its resistance to vigorous pro teolytic enzyme treatment further indicates that the pheromone is not a peptide. High biological activity, indistinguishable from that of the unfractionated urine, was isolated in a protein-depleted, presumably low molecular weight fraction containing compounds that are retarded by adsorption on Sephadex. The chemical properties of this female mouse pheromone are markedly different from those of a recently purified female hamster pheromone that also acts via the vomeronasal organ.

Secretion of 18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone by the rat adrenal gland.

Abstract: An extraction and purification procedure, similar to that originally proposed by Silber et al. (11) for the fluorimetric determination of corticosterone in rat peripheral plasma, was adapted to quantitating 18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone in arterial and adrenal venous rat plasma with the Porter- Silber reagent. 18-Hydroxydeoxycorticosterone was found to be the only 18-hydroxylated steroid present at a sufficiently high concentration in rat plasma to react with the reagent. The method can measure 1–5 μg of 18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone in small (0.25–2.5 ml) or large (30–60 ml) volumes of adrenal vein and arterial blood plasma, respectively. Relative intensities of chromogens of standard cortisone and 18-hydroxydeoxycor.ticosterone varied little from one experiment to another over an extended period of time. Consequently,18-hydroxydeoxy corticosterone could be quantitated in terms of a cortisone standard by using the appropriate factor. Adrenal vein blood plasma from normal stressed rats had about 25 and 30...