= W. D. Salmon Jr.
{c}
\b[W. D. Salmon Jr.] coauthored the 1957 report <A hormonally controlled serum factor which stimulates sulfate incorporation by cartilage in vitro by W. D. Salmon Jr. and William Daughaday>. The work helped motivate the idea that some effects of <growth hormone> are mediated by a factor carried in <blood serum>, rather than being explained solely by direct <growth hormone> action on every responding tissue.<A hormonally controlled serum factor which stimulates sulfate incorporation by cartilage in vitro by W. D. Salmon Jr. and William Daughaday>[1957 primary report, title and author record]{ref}
The experimental distinction was between applying <growth hormone> directly to isolated <cartilage> and measuring the response to <blood serum> from an animal exposed to the <hormone>. <Sulfate> incorporation provided a measurable tissue response. In <William Daughaday>'s retrospective account, this supported the circulating-mediator interpretation that developed into the somatomedin hypothesis and research on <insulin-like growth factor 1>. A tissue response establishes biological activity; it does not, on its own, establish the chemical identity or purity of a single molecule.<Growth hormone axis overview: somatomedin hypothesis by William Daughaday>[retrospective account of the cartilage assay and serum-mediator interpretation]{ref}
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