Abstract
The bioactivity of parathyroid hormone (PTH) was measured by guanyl nucleotide amplified adenylate cyclase assay. Of 73 uremic patients on maintenance hemodialysis for over 4 years, 49 (67%) had PTH activities exceeding 100 pg/ml equivalent to human PTH (1-34). All patients had elevated c-terminal immunoreactive PTH (c-iPTH) and mid-region specific immunoreactive PTH (m-iPTH). The correlation between the PTH activity and iPTH was significant, but some patients had mildly elevated values of iPTH and considerably high PTH activity. Many of the patients with elevated PTH activity suffered from bone or joint pain. It is suggested that some patients had more developed bone disease than would be expected from the values of iPTH. Although the sensitivity of the present modified adenylate cyclase assay is at present insufficient to detect mild hyperparathyroidism, the technique may be useful for the management of secondary hyperparathyroidsm due to chronic renal failure.
