Isolation and characterization of relaxin rom human placenta

The established porcine relaxin radioimmunoassay appeared to be highly specific and showed no crossreactivity with structural related compounds like insulin. Our method for the preparation of antigen conjugates seems to be highly effective, when only small amounts of antigen are available. So far, we could isolate human relaxin only in small amounts, not sufficient for the production of antisera. This underlines the need for optimizing our isolation techniques, for which purpose the placenta is the only source available in large amounts.