Discovery of Insulin-1922

Abstract

In 1889 von Mering and Minkowski demonstrated a link between the pancreas and diabetes by removing whole pancreases from dogs that subsequently developed severe and fatal diabetes. Over the decades following, investigators produced various extracts derived from animal pancreases seeking to isolate the agent presumed to oppose the harmful effects of diabetes. At the time it was known the acinous enzyme-secreting portion of the pancreas was destructive to the islet tissue responsible for carbohydrate metabolism when extracts were derived from whole pancreas. Ibrahim is considered the first person to observe that the pancreases of fetal calves under 5 months gestation were almost entirely comprised of islet tissue and devoid of the proteolytic tissue. Banting and Best took advantage of such potent and readily available tissue by administering daily injections of the fetal extracts to a diabetic dog, extending its life by 72 days, whereas untreated diabetic dogs did not live longer than 14 days. Collip then went on to produce a potent, sterile extract suitable for human subjects.

Banting, F. G., Best, C. H., Collip, J. B., Campbell, W. R., & Fletcher, A. A. (1922). Pancreatic Extracts in the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 12(3), 141–146.

Hyperlink to PDF: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1524425/.