Fritz Hahn (pharmacologist)

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Fritz Hahn (born February 13, 1907 in Königstein im Taunus ; † May 19, 1982 in Wittnau near Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German doctor and pharmacologist .

Life

The medical studies in Frankfurt am Main and Innsbruck and the doctorate to Dr. med. 1931 in Frankfurt followed formative years with Hans Sachs at the Institute for Immunity and Serum Research at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg . From 1936 to 1939 Hahn worked at the Pharmacological Institute of the University of Cologne , headed by Josef Schüller (1888–1968) , where he completed his habilitation in 1939 with a thesis on the cardiac glycoside digitoxin .

From 1940 to 1946 he was acting head of the Pharmacological Institute of the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf , the forerunner of the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf . There he stayed under the chair holders Ludwig Heilmeyer (1945-1946) and Hellmut Weese (1946-1950), in order to take over the chair himself in 1951. In 1959/1960 he was rector of the Medical Academy. In 1960 he followed a call to the Chair of Pharmacology at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg as the successor to Sigurd Janssen . From 1960 to 1957 he was also acting head of the Freiburg Institute for the History of Medicine . “His great commitment not only guaranteed that the institute would be preserved in difficult times, but also paved the way for the permanent establishment of a full professorship.” In 1972, Hahn died in his residence Wittnau on the slope of the Schönberg .

research

The years at Hans Sachs gave Hahn a lifelong interest in allergic reactions. In Düsseldorf, he and his colleagues first showed in vitro that the anaphylatoxins , which are formed when blood serum is incubated with antigen-antibody complexes , release histamine from cells . In Freiburg, together with his son Helmut (* 1937), Hubert Giertz (* 1923) and Wolfgang Schmutzler (* 1933), evidence of the release of histamine in vivo was also possible in living test animals. Hahn discovered the release of histamine through dextrans and polyvinylpyrrolidone , which at that time were widely used as plasma substitutes. He has summarized this research area in the handbook of experimental pharmacology .

A second research area, the pharmacology of "analeptics" , was largely completed by Hahn in the year he moved to Freiburg with a review article. The article begins: "The term 'analeptic' usually refers to a drug able to restore depressed medullary and other functions of the central nervous system." These included substances such as pentetrazole , picrotoxin , nikethamide and the chemically similar to barbiturates Bemegrid and hoped for of them a restoration of breathing in case of poisoning with sleeping pills . But it is hardly possible to get rid of the central respiratory paralysis without triggering cramps at the same time. This dangerous antidote therapy is now abandoned, the group of substances is obsolete.

During Hahn's time, Otto Heidenreich (1924–2007) and Georges Michael Füllgraff (* 1933) researched the effects of diuretics in Freiburg , including the loop diuretic Etozolin, which was marketed as Elkapin® for some time . Hans Joachim Meyer (1927–1968) and Rolf Kretzschmar (* 1937) researched the effects of the later controversial kava preparations due to their liver toxicity . They recognized the kavapyrons as the carriers of the sleep-promoting, anticonvulsant , muscle-relaxing and anxiolytic effects. In addition to the inhibition of voltage-activated sodium channels, Kretzschmar suspected an influence on GABA receptors as a mechanism of action.

student

In Düsseldorf Hubert Giertz and Anton Oberdorf (* 1924) completed their habilitation, in Freiburg Hans Joachim Meyer, Wolfgang Schmutzler, Georges Michael Fülgraff, Walter Bernauer (1934–2009) and Rolf Kretzschmar. Otto Heidenreich had already completed his habilitation under Sigurd Janssen in Freiburg. Hubert Giertz, Anton Oberdorf and Rolf Kretzschmar later headed pharmacological research departments in the pharmaceutical industry. Otto Heidenreich held the chair for pharmacologist and toxicology at RWTH Aachen from 1960 to 1990 . Georges Michael Fülgraff was President of the Federal Health Office in Berlin from 1974 to 1980 and State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Youth, Family and Health in Bonn from 1980 to 1982 . Wolfgang Schmutzler became professor of pharmacology in Aachen, Walter Bernauer in Freiburg im Breisgau.

Appreciations

His students tell of Hahn as a liberal man who loved the fine arts and collected - also with fees from the pharmaceutical industry. A recurrent affective disorder sometimes made it difficult to be together in the institute. Gerhard Schultze-Werninghaus, former President of the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology : “Fritz Hahn is one of the pioneers in immune pharmacology. He has represented this area nationally and internationally, particularly since 1950. With the discovery of immunoglobulin E in 1967 it became clear that many pathogenetic ideas about the basis of allergic reactions did not stand up to recent findings - but the work of Hahn and co-workers was also groundbreaking, especially with regard to the importance of the release of mediators in allergic reactions, as well regarding the non-immunological mechanisms in ' pseudoallergies '. "

In 1981 the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology awarded him the Karl Hansen Medal.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Klaus Starke: The history of the pharmacological institute of the University of Freiburg. Berlin, Springer-Verlag 2004, pages 45–54. ISBN 3-540-20717-1 . 2nd edition 2007: PDF file
  2. ^ Fritz Hahn: Digital accumulation and cardiac output. In: Naunyn-Schmiedebergs Archive for Experimental Pathology and Pharmacology 1939; 192: 499-523. doi: 10.1007 / BF01924836
  3. ↑ Eduard Seidler: The Medical Faculty of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg im Breisgau. Berlin, Springer-Verlag 1991
  4. ↑ H. Giertz, F. Hahn, H. Hahn and W. Schmutzler: About the plasma histamine content in guinea pig anaphylaxis. In: Klinische Wochenschrift 1962; 40: 598-600. doi: 10.1007 / BF01478638
  5. ↑ H. Giertz and F: Hahn: Makromolekulare Histaminliberatoren. In: Mauricio Rocha e Silva (Ed.): Histamine and Anti-Histaminics Part 1. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology Volume XVIII / 1. Berlin, Springer-Verlag 1966, here pages 481-568
  6. ↑ F. Hahn: Antianaphylactic and antiallergic effects. In: In: Mauricio Rocha e Silva (Ed.): Histamine and Anti-Histaminics Part 2. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology Volume XVIII / 2. Berlin, Springer-Verlag 1978, here pages 439–504
  7. ^ F. Hahn: Analeptics. In: Pharmacological Reviews 1960; 12: 447-530.
  8. ↑ R. Kretzschmar: Pharmacological studies on the central nervous effect and the mechanism of action of the kava drug (Piper methystocum Forst) and its crystalline ingredients. In: Dieter Loew, Norbert Rietbrock (Hrsg.): Phytopharmaka in research and clinical application. Darmstadt, Steinkopff-Verlag 1995, ISBN 3-7985-1053-9 , pp. 29-38.
personal data
SURNAME Hahn, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and pharmacologist
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Königstein im Taunus
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1982
Place of death Wittnau (Breisgau)