Roger D. Kempers

Where Are We Going

Searching for answers to Where are we going? 10 predictions for the coming decade follow: 1. Recombinant agents. 2. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis and gene therapy. 3. Advances in basic science research. 4. Disappearance of gynecologic surgery for infertility. 5. Development of artificial organs: tubes, womb, and spermatoceles. 6. Investigation of male factors: identification of specific defects in spermatogenesis and functions of the epididymis. 7. Central nervous system manipulation through drugs. 8. Computer systems to diagnose and treat infertility. 9. Ethical issues will be resolved and managed more readily. 10. The electronic journal. I have speculated broadly and humbly apologize for my myopia, which will be far more evident with the inevitable arrival of many other important advances in the coming decade.

Molecular Forms of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in Serum, Urine, and Placental Extracts**Supported by Grant HD 9140 from the National Institutes of Health and by the Mayo Foundation.††Presented at the Thirty-Second Annual Meeting of The American Fertility Society, April 5 to 9, 1976, Las Vegas, Nev.

The molecular forms of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) were assessed in serum, urine, and placental extracts by gel filtration chromatography using radioimmunoassays for hCG, hCGalpha, and hCGbeta and a radioreceptor assay for hCG. The predominant form in all three biologic specimens was native-sized hCG. An excess of free alpha-subunit was also found in all three specimens. A small molecular weight fragment, reactive in the hCGbeta assay, was noted in urine and placental extracts. A large molecular form, reactive in all three radioimmunoassays and in the radioreceptor assay, was found in placental extracts. This large molecular species could not be dissociated by conditions that totally dissociate hCG.