The Cytochemical Bioassay of Polypeptide Hormones


Book Description

The cytochemical bioassay system was described in a short abstract in 1971, and more fully, in the cytochemical bioassay of corticotrophin, in 1972. Since then, cytochemical bioassays have been described for several polypeptide hormones, and these assays are already widely used. It is expedient that the subject should be reviewed, as it is in this monograph, by one writer who has had the good fortune to have taken part in the growth of cytochemistry from its early origins to its present position as the basis of possibly the most sensitive bioassay system currently available. However, it should be noted that major contributions have been made by many, both to the development of the subject and to the establishment of the bioassays. The object of this preface is to try to give some perspective to the growth of this subject and to record that the cytochemical bioassay system has been fostered by many outstanding scientists in an atmosphere of remarkable goodwill. To begin with, there could have been no cytochemical bioassays until cytochem istry had been converted from its rather unsure origins into a precise and quantitative form of cellular biochemistry. This was done with skill and enthusiastic dedication by my colleagues, Dr. Lucille Bitensky, Dr. F. P. Altman, Dr. R. G. L. W. Poulter and Mr. A. A. Silcox, first at the Royal College of Butcher, Dr.




Cytochemical Bioassays


Book Description

Cytochemical Bioassays: Techniques and Clinical Applications describes the techniques and clinical applications of cytochemical bioassays, particularly with respect to polypeptide hormones. This book discusses the clinical and research implications of studies that use these techniques. This text is comprised of 14 chapters; the first of which introduces the reader to the origins and general principles of cytochemical bioassays, along with their advantages. This discussion is followed by a chapter that explains what is meant by ""an assay""; for what purpose assays are done; the basic components of an assay method; and the nature of the difference between in vivo and in vitro hormone bioassays, in vitro ligand assays, and enzyme assays. Attention then turns to the techniques of cytochemical bioassays and the cytochemical bioassay procedures for adrenocorticotropic hormones; thyroid-stimulating hormones; the thyroid-stimulating antibody of Graves' disease; thyroid growth stimulating and blocking immunoglobulins; and luteinizing hormones. The next chapters focus on the technique and clinical relevance of a cytochemical bioassay for gastrin-like activity and for measurement of antidiuretic hormones, parathyroid hormones, angiotensin II, natriuretic hormones, and hypothalamic regulating hormones. This book will be of interest to clinicians and practitioners of biology, biochemistry, and endocrinology.




Live Cell Assays


Book Description

Cell assays include all methods of measurements on living cells. Confined for a long time to research laboratories, these emerging methods have, in recent years, found industrial applications that are increasingly varied and, from now on, regulatory. Based on the recent explosion of knowledge in cell biology, the measurement of living cells represents a new class of industry-oriented research tests, the applications of which continue to multiply (pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, environment, etc.). Cellular tests are now being positioned as new tools at the interface between chemical methods, which are often obsolete and not very informative, and methods using animal models, which are expensive, do not fit with human data and are widely discussed from an ethical perspective. Finally, the development of cell assays is currently being strengthened by their being put into regulatory application, particularly in Europe through the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and cosmetic directives.




Validation of Cell-Based Assays in the GLP Setting


Book Description

The use of cell-based assays within pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies is driven in large part by the need to evaluate the plethora of drug targets derived from genomics and proteomics. In addition, the potential of biomarkers to facilitate the development of effective and safe drugs is being recognized as an integral part of all phases of drug development, and cell-based technologies are a critical part of biomarker discovery and development. Despite this critical role, cell-based assays have not been standardized and made compliant with Good Laboratory Practice guidelines. In this book, the editors have collected assays for which validation procedures have been developed, making this a vital purchase for anyone using such assays in drug development. This book: Describes the development, optimization and validation of cell-based assays, including procedural documentation required for Good Laboratory Practice Presents validations of cell-based assays for select targets, with step-by-step instructions, allowing the reader to reproduce the assay conditions and results Provides details of techniques used in the evaluation of immunodeficiency, autoimmune and oncological disorders, including assessment of cancer vaccines Offers a compendium of validation parameters that need to be considered when using these methods to develop a new drug Includes detailed protocols for the evaluation of cytokines and of neutralizing antibodies directed against protein therapeutics Validation of Cell-based Assays in the GLP Setting provides the professional with an invaluable reference source, featuring key guidelines. The book will prove extremely useful to all scientists working in the areas of drug development.










Recent Progress in Hormone Research


Book Description

Recent Progress in Hormone Research, Volume 32 covers the proceedings of the 1975 Laurentian Hormone Conference. The book discusses genetic approaches to steroid hormone action; the cytochemical bioassay of hormones; and crystal structure of steroids. The text also describes the gonadotropin-releasing hormone and thyrotropin-releasing hormone; the ontogenesis of pituitary hormones and hypothalamic factors in the human fetus; and the etiologies of sexual maturation. The epidemiologic studies of diabetes in the Pima Indians; and the adrenal cortex and essential hypertension are also considered. The book further tackles the testicular control of follicle-stimulating hormone secretion; and nuclear receptors and the initiation of thyroid hormone action. The text then encompasses the receptor function and ion transport in turkey erythrocytes; the regulation of adenylate cyclase coupled beta-adrenergic receptors; and the control of cyclic AMP metabolism in parental and hybrid somatic cells. The molecular mechanisms of cyclic AMP action are also looked into. Endocrinologists, physiologists, molecular biologists, and biochemists will find the book invaluable.




Immunology of Endocrine Diseases


Book Description

Nineteen eighty-six is a most appropriate year in which to be writing about developments in the organ-specific, autoimmune endocrine diseases. It celebrates the publication 30 years ago in 1956 of the classic papers of Roitt and Doniach and their co-workers I , and of Rose and Witebsky2 and Adams 3 and Purves . These three sets of fundamental observations provided the initial building blocks upon which much of what has been established in the field in the last 30 years was built. No publication of this nature on endocrine autoimmune disease can cover every aspect of the subject. I have chosen to highlight the organs (thyroid and pancreeas) which have attracted the most attention, and the areas of work within these fields within which most research effort is currently focused. There are still some gaps; the insulin and TSH receptors are not considered, nor in any detail are the role of cytotoxic mechanisms in mediating gland destruction. Molecular biology will undoubtedly in the next few years clarify once and for all the controversy that surrounds the structure of the TSH receptor and T cell cloning, the role of cell-mediated cytotoxicity. The pathogenetic mechanisms underlying autoimmunity are increasingly well understood and the search for the aetiology has begun.







Peptide and Protein Drug Delivery


Book Description

This reference/text covers fundamentals of peptide and protein drug delivery, including such considerations as synthesis, physical chemistry and biochemistry, analysis, proteolytic and transport constraints, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics; bioavailability from routes of administration, detai