Two molecular forms of peptide YY (PYY) are abundant in human blood: characterization of a radioimmunoassay recognizing PYY 1-36 and PYY 3-36.

Two endogenous forms of PYY are abundant in man and dog, PYY 1-36 (PYY-I) and PYY 3-36 (PYY-II). PYY-II is a major molecular form of PYY in human colon, but it is not known, whether PYY-II is also released into the circulating blood. Several radioimmunoassays for measuring PYY-I in plasma have been developed, but it has not been reported, whether they equally detect PYY-II. We characterize a radioimmunoassay for measuring PYY in human plasma which equally recognizes PYY-I and PYY-II. Using this radioimmunoassay and reversed phase HPLC we demonstrate the existence of two forms of PYY in human blood, coeluting with synthetic PYY-I and PYY-II.