HORMONES 



Hormones and the Future 



In describing certain aspects of the present biochemical 

 status of the hormones I think I have indicated by inference 

 some of their future prospects. Gaps in our knowledge con- 

 cerning them are most obvious, and these will one day be filled. 

 Instead of examining specific deficiences and what their cor- 

 rection will imply, it may be worth while to take a broad look 

 ahead. 



Basic to this broad look is the expectation that one specific 

 set of deficiencies must and will be corrected — our knowledge of 

 the chemical nature of the hormones must be advanced so that 

 either the chemical structure of known hormones will be es- 

 tablished, or that, in the case of complex substances, chemically 

 pure preparations will be available. Much of the controversy 

 and confusion in hormone research may be traced to the prop- 

 erties of impure hormone-concentrating extracts. Thus the 

 paradoxical hyperglycemic action of insulin has been established 

 as due to the presence of glucagon in insulin concentrates. 

 Much controversy concerning the salt-retaining activities of 

 adrenal extract appears to be resolved by the isolation and 

 identification of aldosterone. A number of mysteries in thyroid 

 hormone biochemistry have been solved with the establishment 

 of triiodothyronine as an active principle. Many more such 

 instances could be cited. The chemical nature of the hormones 

 listed as unknown in Table I should be known, and among those 

 known many should be better known. 



Essential also to a broad look is a realization of the per- 

 vasiveness of the hormones in body economy. If we consider 

 the known products of the glands of internal secretion and their 

 known active metabolites, it may be calculated that over 50 

 biologically active substances circulate continuously in the blood 

 of mammals as hormones. There is no vital process which is 

 exempt from their influence, and yet, with few exceptions, these 

 substances are not essential for life. In the rat, for example, 

 neither thyroidectomy, nor gonadectomy, nor hypophysectomy, 



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