[CITATION][C] The early history of endocrine cell transplantation

J Benedum - Journal of molecular medicine, 1999 - Springer
J Benedum
Journal of molecular medicine, 1999Springer
Already in his earlier scientific publications Berthold had expressed his hypothesis of a
humoral connection between the gonads and secondary sex characters. He refers to this in
his 1831-article about the growth of the stag's antlers and their dependence upon the testes
in the “Beiträge zur Anatomie, Zootomie und Physiologie”, where he dealt with “
Geschlechtseigenthümlichkeiten”. Finally he described in 1845 a hermaphroditic newborn
child and discussed the nature of hermaphroditism. These papers demonstrate his …
Already in his earlier scientific publications Berthold had expressed his hypothesis of a humoral connection between the gonads and secondary sex characters. He refers to this in his 1831-article about the growth of the stag’s antlers and their dependence upon the testes in the “Beiträge zur Anatomie, Zootomie und Physiologie”, where he dealt with “Geschlechtseigenthümlichkeiten”. Finally he described in 1845 a hermaphroditic newborn child and discussed the nature of hermaphroditism. These papers demonstrate his physiological thinking in general, and his biological opinions on relations between gonads and secondary sex characters in particular. So far, this forms the background of the contemporary ideas. In 1849 Berthold published his short four-page article on “Transplantation der Hoden” in the “Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und Wissenschaftliche Medicin” of Johannes Müller (1801–1858). The article’s conciseness and clearcut conclusions make it still today a model for experimental investigations. Because of its inaccessibility in the original and because it is so frequently overlooked, the article was translated in many languages. The report relates how he caponized six young cockerels: two completely castrated cockerels remained capons, in two others castrated cockerels only one testis was removed from the body, the other testis was separated from its attachments and left lying loosely in the body cavity. In the last two cockerels both testicles were transplanted from one cockerel into the abdominal cavity of the other. The most interesting result was not only the successful grafting, but the normal development of the ectopic transplants placed among the intestines in the host birds. They continued to retain the normal secondary sexual characteristics of growing and combativeness. At autopsy Berthold found that the nerve supply of the grafted testes had not been reestablished. The graft showed no innervation, but vascularisation. So he concluded:
“Da nun aber an fremde Stellen transplantirte Hoden mit ihren ursprünglichen Nerven nicht mehr in Verbindung stehen können,... so folgt, daß der fragliche Consensus durch die Einwirkung der Hoden auf das Blut, und dann durch entsprechende Einwirkung des Blutes auf den allgemeinen Organismus bedingt wird.”
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