Probe • Vol LXII • No. 4 • Sep–Dec 2023 • 33 History of Medicine the liver was storing this insoluble starchy substance called glycogen that gets converted into sugar or glucose and is secreted into blood. The excess of this secretion is what causes diabetes. The Turning Point There was a turning point in the history of diabetes mellitus in 1889, after the experiments of Oskar Minkowski (a German physician and physiologist) and Joseph Von Mering (a German physician). Both the scientists performed pancreatectomy in a single dog first and in three more dogs later to check whether the pancreas plays a role in the digestion and absorption of fats. It was observed that all the dogs developed glycosuria after the operation, although their urine did not contain any sugar. Further, Minkowski implanted a small portion of the pancreas subcutaneously in depancreatized dogs and found that until the implant was removed, hyperglycemia was not observed. Thus, their experiments demonstrated that the pancreas was a gland of internal secretion required for the maintenance of glucose homeostasis. These experiments paved the way for Frederick Banting (a Canadian medical scientist) and Charles Best (an American–Canadian medical scientist) to conduct experiments that led to the discovery of insulin. They received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923 for discovering insulin, which saved the lives of millions of people with diabetes. Sources: Lakhtakia R. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2013;13(3):368–370. Karamanou M, et al. World J Diabetes. 2016;7(1):1–7. Oskar Minkowski (Left) and Joseph Von Mering (Right) Image source: https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-historyexhibits/100-years-insulin
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