Oskar Eichler

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Oskar Eichler (born August 20, 1898 in Gilgenburg , East Prussia , † January 1, 1988 in Munich ) was a German pharmacologist and toxicologist .

Life

His father was a wealthy businessman. The son attended the humanistic grammar school in Osterode, today Ostróda . At the age of 16 he became a soldier in World War I and saw the use of war gas in France . After the war, Eichler served as a volunteer with the Eastern Border Guard and temporarily joined the Pan-German Association . From 1919 to 1923 he studied medicine and at times also chemistry in Königsberg and Munich. In 1923 he was a Hermann Wieland-made of Pharmacology at Konigsberg dissertation (1885-1929) of the pharmacology of perchlorates Dr. med. PhD. This was followed by assistant years with Wieland, with Ludolf von Krehl at the Medical Clinic of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and with Fritz Hildebrandt (1887–1961) at the Pharmacological Institutes of the Medical Academy Düsseldorf and the University of Gießen . In Gießen, Eichler completed his habilitation in 1930 with a thesis "On the pharmacology of the Hofmeister series" for pharmacology and toxicology. The subject of his trial lecture to the medical faculty was "Intoxicants".

Eichler had supported National Socialism as a sponsoring member of the SS since 1931 . In May 1933 he joined the NSDAP and became a regular member of the SS, which appointed him SS-Untersturmführer in 1937. As head of the lectureship at the University of Giessen, Eichler also took on leadership roles in university politics. In 1934 he was appointed to the chair of pharmacology at the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Breslau , which had become free as a non- Aryan after Otto Riesser was dismissed . Riesser wrote: “With my collaboration, the list of my successor was drawn up, although I did not name O. Eichler, who was unknown to me. He was appointed lecturer leader in Giessen and an SS man. I introduced him, greeted him in my house and his wife ... over a solid dinner and then, waiting for my transfer to another university on the third floor of the institute, I worked for another year. ”Riesser emigrated to Switzerland and later the Netherlands. Eichler himself wrote about the events (from English): “In October 1934 I was called to Breslau and took over the institute previously administered by Professor Riesser. I managed to keep him at the institute for almost two years. I made one floor available to him until he got a research position in Switzerland. "

Eichler also remained politically active at the University of Breslau and served the regime as a lecturer union leader. However, his enthusiasm for National Socialism apparently cooled off over time. In February 1945 he was expelled from the SS because of "negative political attitudes".

At the end of the Second World War , the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelms University was dissolved. Eichler experienced “fleeing, my family was divided into three different jobs and all our property including our clothes was lost”. After several months in American captivity, he spent two years in detention from November 1945 to October 1947. In 1948, through the mediation of the surgeon Karl Heinrich Bauer , who, like him, had worked at the University of Breslau, he found a new place of work in two rooms of the Heidelberg University Surgical Clinic. In Heidelberg he reunited with his wife and three children. Apparently, in 1955, he was given a chair in clinical pharmacology. In 1958 he followed Fritz Eichholtz to the chair for pharmacology in Friedrichsbau . In 1968 he retired . His successor was Franz Gross .

plant

Pharmacology of inorganic anions

Eichler's main scientific interest was the pharmacology of inorganic salts , especially anions . Already his dissertation dealt with the anion perchlorate. He compared it with the rhodanide in frogs and classified the two anions in the so-called Hofmeister series , a sequence of effectiveness named after the biochemist Franz Hofmeister , with which anions and cations trigger physico-chemical effects, for example proteins precipitate out of their solution or polymers to the sources bring. “Perchlorate poisoning on the whole frog and on the frog heart is identical to rhodanide poisoning. Both substances are also side by side in the Hofmeister series, whereby perchlorate has a somewhat stronger swelling effect than rhodanide. ”This was followed by the article“ On the pharmacology of the Hofmeister series ”as a habilitation achievement. In 1934 the Berlin pharmacologist Wolfgang Heubner invited him to write a volume for the handbook of experimental pharmacology, "The pharmacology of inorganic anions". Eichler worked on it from 1934 to 1942 and after the war, from which he had saved the manuscript, again until 1949. More than 6500 scientific publications are cited on the 1206 pages. From Eichler's own comment in 1972, a certain resignation speaks (from English): “The book dealt with the various chemical properties of anions - the precipitation of calcium by fluoride and phosphate , the complexing by thiocyanates and pyrophosphates and colloid-chemical Hofmeister effects - for insight to gain in pharmacology and the inexhaustible topic of the relationship between chemical and physico-chemical constitution and pharmacological effect. Certain rules can be identified for colloids, enzymes and inanimate membranes . But as soon as one examines the effect of ions on whole cells, all relationships disappear, a sign of how little we know about the processes within cells. "

Despite the "disappearance of all relationships" (between the physical chemistry of anions and their effect on living cells), Eichler's interest continued. When it was discovered in 1952 that perchlorates inhibited the uptake of iodide anions in the thyroid gland and thus had a thyreostatic effect, he investigated their pharmacokinetics with radionuclides .

Amine fluorides

Eichler had already tested the toxicity of organic fluorine compounds in collaboration with Hermann Euler in Breslau . In addition to sodium fluoride, organic fluorine compounds such as B. 3-fluorotyrosine used in a clinic in Kreuth for Graves' treatment, general symptoms of intoxication and the dental fluorosis, which is mainly known from inorganic fluorides . He continued this work in Heidelberg. In his handbook, he discussed the prophylaxis of dental caries with fluorides. He now drew a practical conclusion from this. “Due to the extensive investigations of the last decades, especially in the USA, it has become increasingly clear that the incorporation of fluorine into tooth enamel is able to inhibit the development of dental caries. ... With these conditions, the attempt to transfer fluorine to the tooth surface through the toothpaste is very obvious . ... All in all, we have to make a few postulates that should be fulfilled in a toothpaste so that it not only contains fluorine analytically but also in an effective but harmless form and quantity. In addition, the taste must not be neglected. ”The addition of ethanolamine hydrofluoride proved to be decisive . “The taste is not impaired and the foaming power of the finished toothpaste is increased. The foaming is suitable for bringing the reacting solution into hard-to-reach areas of the mouth. ”Ethanolamine hydrofluoride became the first amine fluoride used in dentistry . The incorporation of fluorine into teeth has indeed been increased. Eichler and the chemist at Knoll AG in Ludwigshafen, Kurt Kraft (1909–1998), received a patent for their recipe, the sale of which brought in some money, which Eichler used in part to improve the equipment of his laboratory. Knoll AG marketed the toothpaste as Biox Fluor ® . The claim that the amine fluorides were invented by the GABA group is wrong.

coffee

A report that caffeine caused infertility and miscarriages in female rabbits prompted Eichler to conduct a follow-up on rats. Weight, mortality, and reproduction were observed over four generations. “On average, there was no damage despite the experimental conditions that were unfavorable for the rats (apart from a temporary drop in weight).” In 1938, Eichler gave a lecture on “Coffee and Caffeine” at the 14th Congress of the German Pharmacological Society . This resulted in a book with the same title. On 142 pages of text with around 480 citations, botany, chemistry, the effects on organs such as the central nervous system and the circulatory system, the development of tolerance and dependence are discussed. In the foreword Eichler announces: “The formulation went its own way, especially to illustrate the psychological effects of coffee. Names like Kant , Schopenhauer , Hume , Ernst Mach appear and I use their thoughts without committing to their systems. They are outstanding in the power of their formulation and their point of view. Who should surpass them in this? ”In the section“ Mind ”the“ own way ”looks like this:“ The human mind contains reason within itself. ... Here is the realm of thoughts and associations and reflections. ... The sphere of action, i.e. of the will, is opposed to the sphere of reflections. When Schopenhauer says that the will is blind, then we will add: the will makes blind by switching off reflections. ... In the area of ​​these relationships the conflict takes place between the people of the Vita activa and those of the Vita contemplativa of whom Nietzsche speaks in his ' Dawn '. The boundaries between these two spheres are mostly determined by inheritance. ... This is where the effects of caffeine take place initially. By easing the thoughts, by increasing the reflections, the sphere of reason predominates and therefore motoric volitional impulses are weakened. "

As with anions, Eichler continued researching coffee in Heidelberg. In 1976 his coffee book appeared in the second edition. In addition to his own contributions, it now contained the contributions of seven other authors on 460 pages of text with around 2240 citations. Among other things, he wrote about the “Central Effect”. The beginning of the section “Understanding, Intuition, Judgment” is practically identical to that quoted from the 1938 edition. Otherwise the difference in salary is fundamental. While the first edition dealt with the effects on organs without even asking the question of the molecular mechanism, this question pervades the whole of the second edition: the role of calcium , the inhibition of phosphodiesterases and the antagonism against adenosine . Despite its topicality, the book received relatively little attention, no doubt because of the German language. It is sparsely cited in an overview article from 1999, and not at all in a manual from 2004.

additional

Eichler researched the pharmacology of sympathomimetics , anesthesia and histamine . as well as the potential poison theory developed by Walther Straub , a general theory of pharmaceutical effects that has been abandoned today.

From 1955 (Volume 11 of the supplementary work, about lobeline and other alkaloids from lobelia ) to 1978 (Volume 49, about alkaloids from ergot ) he was one of the series editors of the Handbuch der Experimental Pharmakologie , more recently the Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology , which was founded in 1923 by the Berlin pharmacologist Arthur Heffter .

His predilection for philosophy in general and Erwin Schrödinger's 1944 book “What is Life?” In particular inspired him to write a book published in 1949, “Principles of the Living”. It argues at a high level of abstraction. The principles of harmony, regulation and economy seem important to Eichler, "in order to penetrate into the unknown area of ​​life."

student

Habilitation at Eichler:

  • in Breslau 1942 Helmut Hindemith;
  • in Heidelberg 1965 Ellen Weber (1929–1992), later head of the clinical pharmacology department at the Heidelberg University Medical Center;
  • there in 1966 Max Höbel, later professor at the Heidelberg Institute;
  • there in 1966 Eberhard Hackenthal, later head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Pharmacology at the Heidelberg Faculty of Pharmacy;
  • 1973 Gabriele Taugner, later professor at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg.

literature

  • Oskar Eichler: Science and fate . In: Annual Review of Pharmacology . 12, 1972, pp. 1-19. doi : 10.1146 / annurev.pa.12.040172.000245 .
  • Michael Grüttner : Biographical Lexicon on National Socialist Science Policy (= Studies on Science and University History. Volume 6). Synchron, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-935025-68-8 , p. 43.
  • Eberhard Hackenthal, Stefan Offermanns, Günter Schultz: Pharmacological Institute, Medical Faculty of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. In: Athineos Philippu (Ed.): History and work of the pharmacological, clinical-pharmacological and toxicological institutes in German-speaking countries. Berenkamp-Verlag, Innsbruck 2004, ISBN 3-85093-180-3 , pp. 329-336.
  • Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. 2nd Edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
  • Jürgen Lindner, Heinz Lüllmann: Pharmacological institutes and biographies of their directors. Editio-Cantor-Verlag, Aulendorf 1996, ISBN 3-87193-172-1 .
  • U. Schwabe, H. Scholz : Prof. Dr. med. Oskar Eichler . In: Communications from the German Society for Pharmacology and Toxicology . 4, 1989, pp. 10-11.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Michael Grüttner : Biographical Lexicon for National Socialist Science Policy (= Studies on Science and University History. Volume 6). Synchron, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-935025-68-8 , p. 43.
  2. ↑ Otto Riesser: Sketch for memories of my scientific career, written in 1944 in Naarden (Holland) . In: Communications from the German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology . 23, 1998, pp. 46-60.
  3. ↑ Eichler 1972, p. 8.
  4. ↑ Eichler 1972, p. 12.
  5. ↑ Klee 2007, p. 129
  6. ↑ Eichler 1972, p. 15 as well as Albrecht Scholz, Thomas Barth, Anna-Sophia Pappai and Axel Wacker: The fate of the teaching staff of the Medical Faculty in Breslau after the expulsion in 1945/46. In: Würzburger medical history reports 24, 2005, pp. 497-533, here: pp. 514 and 524 f.
  7. ^ Oskar Eichler: On the pharmacology of perchlorate poisoning . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 144, 1929, pp. 251-260. doi : 10.1007 / BF01864829 .
  8. ^ Oskar Eichler: On the pharmacology of the Hofmeister series . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 154, 1930, pp. 59-102. doi : 10.1007 / BF01862704 .
  9. ↑ Oskar Eichler: The pharmacology of inorganic anions - The Hofmeister series. In: W. Heubner and J. Schüller (Hrsg.): Handbuch der experimental Pharmakologie. Supplementary work. Tenth volume. Springer-Verlag , Berlin, Göttingen, Heidelberg 1950.
  10. ↑ Eichler 1972, p. 10.
  11. ↑ Oskar Eichler, Eberhard Hackenthal: About excretion and metabolism of perchlorate measured with 36 ClO 4 . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 243, 1962, pp. 554-565. doi : 10.1007 / BF00244953 .
  12. ↑ Hackenthal et al. 2004, p. 330.
  13. ↑ Hermann Euler, Oskar Eichler: About the effect of fluorine in organic bonds on the tooth system of the rat. Arch exp Pathol Pharmakol 199, 1942, p. 179
  14. ↑ Hermann Euler, Oskar Eichler: Fluorine damage to the tooth system. German Dental, Oral and Kieferheilk. 9, No. 1, 1942, p. 2
  15. ↑ H. Euler, O. Eichler, H. Hindemith: About the effect of some organic fluorides in chronic administration . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 206, 1949, pp. 75-82. doi : 10.1007 / BF00246327 .
  16. ↑ O. Eichler, H. Hindemith, F. Barfuss: Effect of some organic fluorides on yeast fermentation and phosphatase . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 206, 1949, pp. 83-86. doi : 10.1007 / BF00246328 .
  17. ↑ Oskar Eichler, Ilse Appel: Attempts to develop a fluorine-containing toothpaste . In: drug research . 2, 1952, pp. 72-77.
  18. ↑ Oskar Eichler, Ilse Appel: About toothpaste containing fluorine . In: German Dental Journal . 7, 1952, pp. 702-707.
  19. ↑ Oskar Eichler, Ilse Appel: About fluorine uptake in teeth that are treated with toothpaste containing fluorine . In: German Dental Journal . 7, 1952, pp. 708-711.
  20. ↑ patent DE971375 the German Patent Office dated 26 August 1951st
  21. ^ Oskar Eichler: Science and Fate. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. 12, 1972, pp. 1-19.
  22. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Gülzow, Claas Sudbrake: A modern active ingredient: 40 years of caries protection with amine fluoride . In: Dental communications . 15, 2003, p. 32.
  23. ↑ Oskar Eichler, Hans Mügge: On the question of the harmfulness of caffeine in the case of chronic intake . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 168, 1932, pp. 89-96. doi : 10.1007 / BF01861277 .
  24. ^ Oskar Eichler: Coffee and Caffeine. Pharmacological effects. . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 190, 1938, pp. 123-155. doi : 10.1007 / BF01865435 .
  25. ^ O. Eichler: Coffee and caffeine. Published by Julius Springer, Berlin 1938.
  26. ↑ Eichler 1938, p. 14.
  27. ↑ Oskar Eichler: Coffee effect during sporting exercises . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 206, 1949, pp. 251-257. doi : 10.1007 / BF00248589 .
  28. ^ Oskar Eichler: Coffee and Caffeine. 2nd Edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1976, ISBN 3-540-07281-0 .
  29. ↑ Eichler 1976, p. 76.
  30. ^ Bertil B. Fredholm, Karl Bättig, Janet Holmén, Astrid Nehlig, Edwin E. Zvartau: Actions of caffeine in the brain with special reference to factors that contribute to its widespread use . In: Pharmacological Reviews . 51, 1999, pp. 83-133. (online at: pharmrev.aspetjournals.org ) Retrieved July 12, 2013.
  31. ↑ Bertil B. Fredholm (Ed.): Methylxanthines. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology. Volume 200.Springer , Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-642-13442-4 .
  32. ^ Oskar Eichler: On the pharmacology of veritol (H 75) and its classification in the series of known adrenaline bodies . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 187, 1937, pp. 429-443. doi : 10.1007 / BF01972045 .
  33. ↑ Oskar Eichler, Willi Plewa: On the pharmacology of some basic phenol ethers, including those with a sympathomimetic effect . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 217, 1953, pp. 153-161. doi : 10.1007 / BF00245627 .
  34. ^ O. Eichler, H. Mügge: Comparison of acetylene and nitrogen oxide in their effect on different parts of the central nervous system . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 126, 1927, pp. 204-208. doi : 10.1007 / BF01865557 .
  35. ^ Oskar Eichler, Arnold Smiatek: About the relationships between the sensitivity to chloroform, avertin and eunarkon . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 186, 1937, pp. 702-720. doi : 10.1007 / BF01865167 .
  36. ↑ O. Eichler, H. Mügge: On the mechanism of the histamine action in rabbits . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 159, 1931, pp. 633-656. doi : 10.1007 / BF01929198 .
  37. ↑ Oskar Eichler, Georg Speda: Experiments on the dependence of the histamine content in the blood plasma on the respiration . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 195, 1940, pp. 152-63. doi : 10.1007 / BF01862098 .
  38. ↑ Oskar Eichler, Franz Barfuß: Investigations into the histamine content of the blood with infusion of adrenaline and histamine . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 195, 1940, pp. 245-257. doi : 10.1007 / BF01862111 .
  39. ↑ O. Eichler, TH Lippert: The effect of some histamine-chelating heavy metals on the histamine contraction of the guinea pig ileum . In: Naunyn-Schmiedebergs for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 253, 1966, pp. 421-432. doi : 10.1007 / BF00246187 .
  40. ↑ O. Eichler: About potential poisons, especially the type of effect of acetylcholine in experiments on the isolated intestine . In: Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archive for experimental pathology and pharmacology . 202, 1943, pp. 420-444. doi : 10.1007 / BF01935187 .
  41. ↑ O. Eichler: Principles of the living. Georg Thieme Verlag , Stuttgart 1949.
  42. ↑ Eichler 1949, p. 50.
  43. ^ Lindner and Lüllmann 1996.
  44. ↑ Hackenthal and others 2004.
  45. ↑ Alexander Knipis: Weber, Ellen (1929–1992), pharmacologist. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  46. ^ Ulrich Hilgenfeldt: Obituary on the occasion of the death of Prof. Dr. med. Eberhard Hackenthal . In: Biospectrum . 19, 2013, p. 558.
personal data
SURNAME Eichler, Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pharmacologist and toxicologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Gilgenburg , East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1988
Place of death Munich