HISTORY OF HYPOHPYSIAL DIABETES 



THE EVOLUTION of knowledge on the relation of the hypophysis to diabetes 

 can be divided chronologically into five periods: ist, before 1924, the inci- 

 dence of diabetes in acromegaly and the action of the posterior lobe; 2d, after 

 1924, the hypersensitivity of hypophysectomized animals to insulin; 3d, after 

 1929, the discovery of the action of the anterior lobe on diabetes; 4th, mis- 

 conceptions prevailing in 1936; 5th, permanent diabetes induced by antero- 

 hypophysial extracts. 



1. Before 1924: the Incidence of Diabetes in Acromegaly and the Action of 

 the Posterior Lobe. Since acromegaly was first studied, its coexistence with 

 diabetic symptoms has been observed. Two papers collecting published cases 

 may be mentioned on the subject: 



The high incidence of diabetes in acromegaly prompted Borchardt^ to inject 

 pituitary extracts; he found that they produced glycosinia and blood sugar 

 increase of short duration. This effect is due to the posterior lobe and has been 

 extensively studied by Houssay and Di Benedetto.^ In that paper many refer- 

 ences to previous work are mentioned, besides the authors' experiments. 



In 1923 Burn^ discovered the antagonistic action on blood sugar of posterior- 

 lobe extracts and insulin in the rabbit. This effect was also found in the dog by 

 Magenta and Biasotti' as were several other antagonistic actions of these sub- 

 stances (Houssay"). From then until 1929 the prevailing idea was that if the 

 hypophysis had any action on carbohydrate metabolism and on the diabetes 

 in acromegaly it was due to its posterior lobe. 



Gushing and his associates since 1911 have insistently studied the role of 

 the hypophysis in carbohydrate metabolism. In the papers of Goetsch, Gush- 

 ing and Jacobson" and of Weed, Gushing and Jacobson^ it is mentioned that 

 in hypophysectomized dogs there occurs an increase in tolerance to sugar, since 

 in these dogs the ingestion of large amounts of saccharose was not followed by 

 glycosmia.* They also observed an increase in tolerance in hypophysectomized 

 dogs in which a large part of the pancreas had been removed but did not ex- 

 periment with totally pancreatectomized animals. These changes were attrib- 



* These results might be due to the slow absorption of sugar, as has been found in hypoph- 

 ysectomized rats, and do not prove that more sugar is consumed. On the contrary, the 

 injection of glucose into the veins of hvpophysectomized dogs produces a blood sugar increase 

 which lasts longer than in normal dogs (Biasotti;'' Foglia and Potick^"). 



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