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HORMONES THROUGH HISTORY
FEATURE
ENTER ‘THE HORMONE’
Ernest Starling was the first to coin the term ‘hormone’, in the very
early years of the 20th century. The story goes that Starling was talking
to a colleague at a Cambridge dinner, and they were both struggling
for a name for these secretions that could pass through another part of
the body and stimulate it directly. A scholar of ancient Greek suggested
the word ‘ormao’, the Greek word for ‘excite’ or ‘stir up’ – and thus the
word ‘hormone’ entered the language.
‘Numerous Steinach operations were
performed … Even WB Yeats had an
operation … and reported that it improved
his creative powers.’
Obviously many hormones have since been identified, such as growth
hormone in 1932. The discovery of insulin slightly predates that of
growth hormone. It had been known since the 19th century that if
the pancreas was removed from dogs they developed diabetes. The
problem encountered in studying the pancreas, of course, was that
it makes exocrine and endocrine compounds, and the difficulty was
really separating these.
Frederick Banting, the unlikely discoverer of insulin, was a failed GP
in Canada who used to supplement his income by giving lectures to
medical students. It is said that, in the middle of the night, he hit upon
the idea of ligating the pancreatic duct while keeping the dogs alive.
Using this approach, the exocrine part of the pancreas became inactive.
After 6 weeks, the dogs were sacrificed and their pancreases removed,
which enabled insulin to be extracted.
The first injection of insulin into Leonard Thompson occurred in 1921,
when he was 14 and only days away from death. He was incredibly thin
and smelled of acetone. The ‘muck’ made from a dog’s pancreas gave
Thompson a whole new lease of life – and the rest, of course, is history.
‘Glanoid’, an early example of a
hormone supplement used to treat
anaemia, amenorrhoea and menorrhagia.
©Science Museum, London, Wellcome Images
TIED UP IN KNOTS
Before we get to the modern day, there was one last amazing wrong
turn! Eugen Steinach was a Viennese scientist working in the Biological
Research Institute in Vienna. His theory was that if you tied off the
duct from the testis (i.e. a modern vasectomy) you would increase the
amount of testosterone it produced. Numerous Steinach operations
were performed around the world, with the aim of increasing the
amount of testosterone. Even WB Yeats had an operation, at the age
of 69, and reported that it improved his creative powers. Some say he
produced his best poetry after the procedure. He also took up with a
27-year-old actress (42 years his junior)!
LAST WORD
Endocrinology never stands still, and this very selective run through
some aspects of its history omits many recent triumphs, due to lack
of space. The account would not be complete, however, without
mentioning the discovery of leptin and the amazing work of Steve
O’Rahilly and Sadaf Farooqi in Cambridge, in examining genetic causes
of obesity with such huge success.
Indeed, as you continue your studies, never forget that you are adding
to the rich and fantastic trail left by all those endocrinologists who have
preceded us!
JOHN WASS
Professor of Endocrinology, University of Oxford
Academic Vice-President of the Royal College of Physicians, London
Frederick Banting ©Wellcome Library, London
To find out more about ‘The Fantastical World of Hormones’,
watch John Wass’ documentary on the subject, which also features
Sadaf Farooqi and Saffron Whitehead, and was first aired on
BBC4 in February 2014. You can view the full documentary at
http://bit.ly/1IToJeK.
THE ENDOCRINOLOGIST | SPRING 2015 | 7