Bernardo Alberto Houssay

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Bernardo Alberto Houssay

Bernardo Alberto Houssay (born April 10, 1887 in Buenos Aires , Argentina , † September 21, 1971 ibid) was an Argentine physiologist and Nobel Prize winner for medicine . In the opinion of his contemporaries, Houssay provided important work on diabetes and sugar metabolism as well as on internal secretion .

Life

Houssay's parents immigrated to Argentina from France. His brothers were sent back to France to study. Hossay was gifted at an early age and studied pharmacy from the age of 14 and, after completing his doctorate in this subject in 1904, at the University of Buenos Aires, where he became an assistant in the physiology department and received his second doctorate in 1911 with a dissertation on pituitary hormones became. He published his first article on the pituitary gland in 1910. During his studies, Houssay worked in the pharmacy of the French hospital in Buenos Aires. Immediately after graduation he became professor of physiology at the veterinary medicine faculty. At the same time he practiced as a doctor and was an assistant doctor at the Municipal Hospital of Buenos Aires. In 1913 he became chief physician at Alvear Hospital, and in 1915 head of the experimental pathology department at the Buenos Aires Public Health Laboratories. In 1919 he became a full professor of physiology at the university's medical faculty. From 1924 he published important results of his research in classic works on diabetes mellitus in a dog that was already living without a pancreas by removing the pituitary gland ("Houssay's dog;" "Houssay Syndrome"). He found that a dog that had had its pancreas removed had a much milder diabetes if part of the pituitary gland was also removed. While a dog without a pancreas died after three weeks, a dog without a pancreas and pituitary gland (Houssay dog) survived for 6 to 9 months (in each case without insulin intake). The hyperphyseal anterior lobe must therefore contain a factor that aggravated the diabetes (called by Houssay the diabetogenic principle ). He and others later found that extracts from the anterior pituitary inhibited insulin formation and action. According to Houssay, the pituitary gland was an integral part of the disease process in diabetes.

During the Peron era, he was dismissed from 1943 to 1955 because of his liberal political views (as were many other professors), and during this time he conducted research at a private research institute he founded. Then he accepted his professorship again. From 1957 he was director of the national research council.

He did research in many areas of physiology (digestive system, respiration, cardiovascular system, nervous system). His most important discovery was honored with the Nobel Prize in 1947, the role of the anterior pituitary lobe hormones in sugar metabolism and in diabetes.

He wrote an influential textbook on physiology in Latin America and had many important students in Argentina and Latin America.

Publications

  • Le rôle des universités en présence des transformations matérielles et morales provoquées dans les sociétés contemporaines par les progrès scientifiques et techniques; exposé fait à la Conference Internationale des Universités, à Nice. Bureau Internationale des Univ, Paris 1925.
  • Fisiologia Humana. Buenos Aires 1951.
    • Human Physiology. 2nd Edition. New York 1955.

literature

  • Carl F. Cori (Ed.): Perspectives in biology. A collection of papers dedicated to Bernardo A. Houssay on the occasion of his 75th birthday, Festschrift Bernardo A. Houssay. Elsevier, Amsterdam 1963, OCLC 460729330 .
  • Werner E. Gerabek : Houssay, Bernardo Alberto. In: Werner E. Gerabek, Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 630 f.

Memberships and honors

Web links

Commons : Bernardo Houssay  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Leopoldo Acuña: Bernardo Alberto Houssay. In: Wolfgang U. Eckart , Christoph Gradmann (Hrsg.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the 20th century. 1st edition. CH Beck, Munich 1995, pp. 197 + 198. ( Medical encyclopedia. From antiquity to the present. 2nd edition. 2001, pp. 169 + 170; 3rd edition. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg / Berlin / New York 2006, pp. 176 + 177) Medical encyclopedia 2006 , doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
  2. ↑ Houssay syndrome is the reduction of diabetes by removing the pituitary gland.
  3. ↑ Abderhalden, Die Hormone, Springer, 1952, p. 95
  4. ^ Member entry by Bernardo Alberto Houssay (with picture and CV) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on April 8, 2017.
  5. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 22, 2019 .
  6. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 (PDF) . Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  7. ^ Entry on Houssay, Bernardo Alberto (1887-1971) in the archives of the Royal Society , London
  8. ^ Member History: Bernardo A. Houssay. American Philosophical Society, accessed October 3, 2018 .
  9. ↑ DHM
  10. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter H. Académie des sciences, accessed on November 28, 2019 (French).
  11. ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 11156
personal data
SURNAME Houssay, Bernardo Alberto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Houssay, Bernardo
SHORT DESCRIPTION Argentine physiologist, Nobel Prize winner
BIRTH DATE April 10, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Buenos Aires , Argentina
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1971
PLACE OF DEATH Buenos Aires , Argentina