Effects of radioiodination on hormone binding ability.

This paper presents the effects of 125I labelling on human chorionic gonadotropin binding ability. The results obtained showed a marked difference in the half-life of the specific radioactivity of the radiolabelled hormone comparing the one obtained by "self-displacement" analysis and that calculated considering the half-life of the radioactive isotope (60 days for 125I). The decrease in the hormone half-life (t 1/2 = 3.10 days) was demonstrated by binding experiments performed at various days after hormone labelling. The affinity constant (Ka) and the number of binding sites obtained after Scatchard analysis using rat testes as receptor source, remained constant when the "self-displacement" specific radioactivity was used while they varied significantly if the 60 days half-life was considered for the data processing. The importance of the labelled hormone degradation as a possible cause of the decrease in the binding ability is also described.