Question: How do scientists study hormones in the human body?

Keith Siew answered on 17 Jun 2013:

Well we use a couple of different techniques… but it is very difficult to physically measure the hormones whilst still in the human body… so often we take samples of blood to measure them and determine their actions.

I can then use an antibodies labelled with say green glowing molecules which are specific for the hormone I’m studying… the antibody then traps and attaches to the hormone… and I can then count them…

I can also take a hormone and take a copy of it that is made to be radioactive… I can then put then put the radioactive version in and let it bind to its receptors… and then put in the one taken from the person in to compete for the receptors against the radioactive version… and it will displace some of them…. and this was we can work out how competitive the hormones are for different receptors, how long they stay bound, what effects the cause in the cells, etc…