The concentration of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) can be measured through a bioass...

The concentration of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) can be measured through a bioassay. The basic idea is that when FSH is added to a certain culture, a proportional amount of estrogen is produced; hence, after calibration, the amount of FSH can be found by measuring estrogen production. However, determining FSH levels in serum samples is difficult because some factor(s) in the serum inhibit estrogen production and thus screw up the bioassay. An experiment was done to see if it would be effective to pretreat the serum with polyethyleneglycol (PEG) which, it was hoped, precipitates some of the inhibitory substance(s).

Three treatments were applied to prepared cultures: no serum, PEG-treated FSH free serum, and untreated FSH free serum. Each culture had one of eight doses of FSH: 4, 2, 1, .5, .25, .125, .06, or 0.0 mIU/μl. For each serum-dose

combination, there were three cultures, and after incubation for three days, each culture was assayed for estrogen by radioimmunoassay. The table that follows gives the results (units are nanograms of estrogen per milliliter). Analyze these data with a view to determining to what degree PEG treatment is successful in removing the inhibitory substances from the serum. Write a brief report summarizing and documenting your conclusions.