Abstract
DARCY1,2 has demonstrated by immunoelectrophoresis the presence of a protein in the sera of fœtal, neonatal, pregnant, tumour-bearing and regenerating rats not found in the sera of healthy, non-pregnant adults of either sex. More recently, Beaton et al.3,4 and Heim5 have shown, in the sera of pregnant and neonatal rats, the existence of a distinct protein component in the electrophoretic pattern obtained by starch-gel electrophoresis which is absent from the patterns of sera from healthy, non-pregnant, adult rats. Beaton et al.4 also demonstrated this component in certain pathological conditions and Heim5 found it in sera from fœtal and lactating rats. The presence or absence of the new component, hereinafter termed reproduction-associated protein, has now been determined over most of the life-cycle of the rat and under certain experimental conditions. A hypothesis of identity of the reproduction-associated protein with the protein discovered by Darcy1 is suggested.
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HEIM, W. A Rat Serum Protein related to Reproduction, Tissue Synthesis and Lactation. Nature 193, 491 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/193491a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/193491a0
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