Conformation, and dissociation-recombination of chemically deglycosylated ovine lutropin.

The conformations of intact and acid dissociated, as well as the relative rates of conformational repair of reassociating, ovine lutropin, and a chemically deglycosylated form of lutropin, have been studied by circular dichroism, zero-order, and difference absorption spectroscopy. Deglycosylation produces only small conformational changes in the intact or acid dissociated form of the molecule. While conformational repair of reassociating lutropin requires up to 72 h, and goes no further than 75-80%, deglycosylated lutropin reaches greater than 90% conformational repair in less than 4 h. The efficacy of second-order absorption spectra in characterizing conformations and conformational changes in these molecules is demonstrated.