Mechanisms and regulation of TSH glycosylation

Some differences in carbohydrate composition of secreted TSH-alpha, TSH-beta, and free alpha-subunits are examined. In order to explore whether each of the secreted TSH subunits has a distinctive carbohydrate composition, the authors incubated hypothyroid mouse tritiated sugar precursors: tritium-glucosamine; tritium-mannose; tritium-l-fucose; and tritium-N-acetylmannosamine, a specific precursor of the sialic acid tritium-N-acetylneuraminic acid. It was shown that although the two TSH subunits, alpha and beta, combine soon after synthesis and are secreted as a dimeric protein, there are notable differences in the carbohydrate processing of the two subunits