Binding in vitro to rat liver receptors does not correlate with activities in vivo of bovine somatotropin. Use of chemically modified derivatives as probes.

Bovine somatotropin with an increasing number of its carboxylate groups modified by reaction with glycine methyl ester in the presence of a water-soluble carbodi-imide was tested for its activity in different bioassays. Only those derivatives which were known to be active in the body-weight-increase bioassay were able to compete with 125I-labelled bovine somatotropin for their specific binding sites in vivo. No difference was found in the rate of clearance of a poorly active derivative as compared with that of native somatotropin. In contrast, both active and inactive derivatives were found to be equally effective in displacing the tracer from its binding sites present in isolated cells and membrane preparations from rat liver. These results suggest that the liver somatogenic receptors studied in vitro are less discriminating than those detected in vivo.