Studies on the purification of gonadotrophin from dogfish ( Scyliorhinus canicula L . ) pituitary glands

While it is now widely accepted that two gonadotrophins, resembling mammalian LH and FSH, are produced by the pituitaries of birds, reptiles and amphibians, most work with bony fishes suggests the presence of only one gonadotrophin in this class of vertebrates (e. g. Burzawa-G6rQrd, 1971 ; Donaldson et al., 1972 ; BurzawaG6rard et al.,1975 ; Breton et al., 1976). This conclusion is, however, being questioned in recent publications (e. g. Idler et a/., 1975 ; Pierce et ai., 1976 ; Farmer and Papkoff, 1977). No information exists on the gonadotrophin(s) of the cartilaginous Elasmobranch fishes and the present study presents some results on the purification of this hormone from the lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula).