#{149}. ...
in a series of articles recalling scient/ic events in FASEB 50 years ago, including reminiscences of the 1942 Annual Meeting. This
is the eighteenth
DOPA:
Then Richard
and Now J.
Bing
A backward look at our scientific past from the advantage of age can be sobering, when ideas conceived have failed to take root; but it can be satisfying when they have grown and have borne fruit. In 1942 Irvin Korr and I submitted a paper entitled: “The decarboxylation of DOPA extracts of kidney and other tissues of the rat” for the annual meeting of The American Physiological Society in Boston (1). In 1941 I had joined the Department of Physiology of Homer W. Smith at New York University after previous studies at the Carlsberg Institute in Copenhagen, the Rockefeller Institute (now University), and Columbia University in New York City. In 1938 Marjorie Zucker and I found that the amino acid dopa (dihydroxyphenylalanine), when injected into the renal artery of cats, induced acute hypertension through the production of an amine, dopamine (2). We speculated that decarboxylation of amino acids may be partially responsible for the development of renal hypertension. Looking at these studies with the benefit of hindsight, I see how success of ideas is dependent on their inherent seminal value. But success cannot always be predicted, even for original and valid ideas. Aversion to new ideas is part of the human condition and often the incubation time before acceptance of new concepts extends over years. Dopa and dopamine have become very active players in physiology and medicine; for example, L-dopa in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, methyldopa in the treatment of hypertension, dopamine in the treatment of circulatory failure, and dopamine as a transmitter in the central nervous system. The program at the Boston meeting contained several papers dealing with the heart and circulation. There was a paper by Corcoran, Helmer, and Page on the renal pressor system as an index of species relationship (3), by Coombs on the calcium-potassium reversal effects of the perfused turtle heart (4), by Harold Green on coronary collateral circulation after sudden occlusion (5), and by Ed Lambert on failure to produce arterial hypertension by intracisternal injection of kaolin (6). All these presentations were harbingers of things to come. The problems we wrestled with at the time were not too different from those we are facing today. They concerned the effect of calcium-potassium, the renal pressor system, and collateral circulation of the heart. But the time for relating molecular biology to cardiology, the use of isotopes, echocardiography, and physiological problems resulting from clinical intervention was still far in the future.
3122
What do we, as short-span archaelogists, learn from the contents of the 1942 meeting? In the first place, we see that physiology is closely dependent on the progress of the fundamental sciences, on development of techniques. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging, echocardiography, isotopes, and PET scanning were still in the future. Although
Richard
J.
Bing
research was in some ways simpler at that time, what counted then, as it does now, is the introduction of new and original ideas and concepts regardless of technical complexities.
REFERENCES 1. Bing, R.J., and Korr, I. M. (1942) The decarboxylation of dopa by extracts of kidney and other tissues of the rat (title only). Federation Proc. 1, 14 (program of 29th annual meeting) 2. Bing, R. J., and Zucker, M. B. (1941) Renal hypertension produced by an amino acid. J. Exp. Meti 74, 235-246 3. Corcoran, A. C., Helmer, 0. M., and Page, I. H. (1942) The renal pressor system as an index of species relationship. Federation .Pmc. 1, 17-18 (abstr.) 4. Coombs, H. C. (1942) Calcium and potassium reversal effects of the perfused turtle heart. Federation Proc. 1, 17 (abstr.) 5. Green, H. D., Lewis, R. N., and Radzow, K. H. (1942) The magnitude of the effective collateral circulation following sudden arterial occlusion. Federation Proc. 1, 33 (abstr.) 6. Lambert,
arterial
E. H.,
and Wakerlin,
G. E. (1942)
hypertension by intracistemal Federation Proc. 1, 47-48 (abstr.)
Failure
injection
to produce
of kaolin.
Dr. Bing (APS-R) is Director of Experimental Cardiology and Scientific Development at the Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA, and Professor Emeritus of Medicine, University of Southern California.
50 YEARS AGO
Vol. 6
September 1992
ebj.org by CRAI Universitat De Barcelona Biblioteca De Bellvitge (161.116.100.134) on February 07, 2019. The FASEB Journal Vol. ${article.issue.getVolume()}, No. ${article.issue.getIssue
in a series of articles recalling scient/ic events in FASEB 50 years ago, including reminiscences of the 1942 Annual Meeting. This
is the eighteenth
DOPA:
Then Richard
and Now J.
Bing
A backward look at our scientific past from the advantage of age can be sobering, when ideas conceived have failed to take root; but it can be satisfying when they have grown and have borne fruit. In 1942 Irvin Korr and I submitted a paper entitled: “The decarboxylation of DOPA extracts of kidney and other tissues of the rat” for the annual meeting of The American Physiological Society in Boston (1). In 1941 I had joined the Department of Physiology of Homer W. Smith at New York University after previous studies at the Carlsberg Institute in Copenhagen, the Rockefeller Institute (now University), and Columbia University in New York City. In 1938 Marjorie Zucker and I found that the amino acid dopa (dihydroxyphenylalanine), when injected into the renal artery of cats, induced acute hypertension through the production of an amine, dopamine (2). We speculated that decarboxylation of amino acids may be partially responsible for the development of renal hypertension. Looking at these studies with the benefit of hindsight, I see how success of ideas is dependent on their inherent seminal value. But success cannot always be predicted, even for original and valid ideas. Aversion to new ideas is part of the human condition and often the incubation time before acceptance of new concepts extends over years. Dopa and dopamine have become very active players in physiology and medicine; for example, L-dopa in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, methyldopa in the treatment of hypertension, dopamine in the treatment of circulatory failure, and dopamine as a transmitter in the central nervous system. The program at the Boston meeting contained several papers dealing with the heart and circulation. There was a paper by Corcoran, Helmer, and Page on the renal pressor system as an index of species relationship (3), by Coombs on the calcium-potassium reversal effects of the perfused turtle heart (4), by Harold Green on coronary collateral circulation after sudden occlusion (5), and by Ed Lambert on failure to produce arterial hypertension by intracisternal injection of kaolin (6). All these presentations were harbingers of things to come. The problems we wrestled with at the time were not too different from those we are facing today. They concerned the effect of calcium-potassium, the renal pressor system, and collateral circulation of the heart. But the time for relating molecular biology to cardiology, the use of isotopes, echocardiography, and physiological problems resulting from clinical intervention was still far in the future.
3122
What do we, as short-span archaelogists, learn from the contents of the 1942 meeting? In the first place, we see that physiology is closely dependent on the progress of the fundamental sciences, on development of techniques. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging, echocardiography, isotopes, and PET scanning were still in the future. Although
Richard
J.
Bing
research was in some ways simpler at that time, what counted then, as it does now, is the introduction of new and original ideas and concepts regardless of technical complexities.
REFERENCES 1. Bing, R.J., and Korr, I. M. (1942) The decarboxylation of dopa by extracts of kidney and other tissues of the rat (title only). Federation Proc. 1, 14 (program of 29th annual meeting) 2. Bing, R. J., and Zucker, M. B. (1941) Renal hypertension produced by an amino acid. J. Exp. Meti 74, 235-246 3. Corcoran, A. C., Helmer, 0. M., and Page, I. H. (1942) The renal pressor system as an index of species relationship. Federation .Pmc. 1, 17-18 (abstr.) 4. Coombs, H. C. (1942) Calcium and potassium reversal effects of the perfused turtle heart. Federation Proc. 1, 17 (abstr.) 5. Green, H. D., Lewis, R. N., and Radzow, K. H. (1942) The magnitude of the effective collateral circulation following sudden arterial occlusion. Federation Proc. 1, 33 (abstr.) 6. Lambert,
arterial
E. H.,
and Wakerlin,
G. E. (1942)
hypertension by intracistemal Federation Proc. 1, 47-48 (abstr.)
Failure
injection
to produce
of kaolin.
Dr. Bing (APS-R) is Director of Experimental Cardiology and Scientific Development at the Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA, and Professor Emeritus of Medicine, University of Southern California.
50 YEARS AGO
Vol. 6
September 1992
ebj.org by CRAI Universitat De Barcelona Biblioteca De Bellvitge (161.116.100.134) on February 07, 2019. The FASEB Journal Vol. ${article.issue.getVolume()}, No. ${article.issue.getIssue
