George Cotzias
George Constantin Cotzias (born June 16, 1918 in Chania , Crete , † June 13, 1977 in New York City ) was a Greek - American physician ( pathology , neurology ), known for developing the treatment of Parkinson's disease with L. -Dopa (see Parkinson's medication ).
life and work
He came to New York in 1942 and began his studies at Harvard Medical School , from which he graduated cum laude after two years . After internship in pathology at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and as a medical doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), he completed a residency in neurology at MGH. He then worked at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York and later at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Donald Van Slyke's group . A cyclotron was available for research there and Cotzias examined, among other things, the metabolism and toxicity of manganese, which caused symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease in Chilean miners. Another research topic of Cotzias at the time was biogenic amines and their role in high blood pressure.
The later Nobel Prize winner Arvid Carlsson discovered the role of dopamine in Parkinson's disease and its role as a neurotransmitter. Direct injection of dopamine failed because it failed to cross the blood-brain barrier, and metabolic precursors of dopamine such as dopa were toxic when injected directly. Cotzias got around this by getting the patient used to the drug by giving them regularly small doses and also isolating the active isomer L-dopa (the isomer D-dopa contributed half of the toxicity but was not effective against Parkinson's disease). He published the first study on his treatment success in 1968. Treatment with L-Dopa became a standard therapy for Parkinson's disease. In the last decade of his research, he dealt with L-dopa substitutes such as apomorphine after a relapse had been observed in many Parkinson's patients despite initially successful treatment with L-dopa.
In 1969 he received the Lasker ~ DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award . He has received several honorary doctorates (Catholic University of Santiago, St. John's University in New York, National University of Athens, Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania). He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1973) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1970).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Cotzias L-Dopa for Parkinsonianism , New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 278, 1968, p. 630
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cotzias, George |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cotzias, George Constantin (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Greek-American medic |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 16, 1918 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chania , Crete |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 13, 1977 |
| Place of death | New York City |