Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
The pivotal role of John S. Edkins in the discovery of gastrin
World Journal of Surgery, Volume 21, No. 2, Year 1997
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
John Sydney Edkins was born in London in 1863. After gaining two open scholarships, he attended Caius College, Cambridge and studied physiology under the tutelage of J.N. Langley and M. Foster. During this period he published on the chemical nature of pepsinogen with Langley. After qualifying as a medical doctor, he worked in Manchester before returning to London, where he succeeded E. Klein as Head of Physiology at St. Bartholomew's. For financial reasons he also worked part time at Bedford College for Women. In 1902 Bayliss and Starling overturned Pavlov's doctrine of the nervous regulation of gastrointestinal function by discovering the pancreatic secretagogue secretin - the first identifiable chemical messenger. Edkins applied a similar rationale to the stomach and in a classic series of experiments noted that injection of a pyloric mucous membrane extract resulted in gastric acid and pepsin secretion in anesthetized cats. In 1905 he named this putative active agent "gastrin." Although his ideas were initially accepted, the discovery of histamine in 1910 and the identification that extracts from other tissues had a similar physiologic effect raised serious questions regarding the validity of the existence of gastrin. Somewhat discouraged, Edkins pursued the teaching and training of women physiologists at Bedford College, where he later became Chairman of Physiology. Outside of science he successfully pursued other interests and became President of the British Croquet Association. The demonstration that gastrin was a unique antral stimulant of acid secretion by Komarov in 1938 was followed by the purification and elucidation of its chemical structure by Gregory and Tracy in 1964. Their work allowed final validation of Edkins' original hypothesis. Edkins died in London in 1940, not only fated to predecease the vindication of his hypothesis but unable to witness the evolution of his discovery into a paradigm for the hormonal regulation of secretory and proliferative cellular activity. © 1997 by the Société Internationale de Chirurgie.
Authors & Co-Authors
Modlin, Irvin M.
United States, New Haven
Yale School of Medicine
United States, West Haven
Va Connecticut Healthcare System
United States, New Haven
Yale University
Kidd, Mark S.G.
United States, New Haven
Yale School of Medicine
United States, West Haven
Va Connecticut Healthcare System
Marks, Israel N.Solly
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Tang, Laura H.
United States, New Haven
Yale School of Medicine
United States, West Haven
Va Connecticut Healthcare System
Statistics
Citations: 24
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1007/s002689900221
ISSN:
03642313
Research Areas
Health System And Policy
Participants Gender
Female