History Of Diabetes Mellitus

One of the major questions in diabetes therapy, which had remained unresolved until recently, was that of the relationship between glycemic control and development of the complications of diabetes. The evidence supporting the role of metabolic abnormalities in the development of diabetic complications had long been known. It was not clear, however, if meticulous glycemic

The groundwork for the production of large quantities of human insulin was laid by Frederick Sanger (b. 1918), who published the structural formula of bovine insulin in 1955 while working at Cambridge University. He received Nobel Prize for this work in 1958. Dorothy Hodgkin (1910–1994) described the three-dimensional structure of porcine insulin in 1969 at

Oral hypoglycemic agents were discovered following the fortuitous observations of hypoglycemia as a side effect of various investigative substances. In 1918, while investigating biological effects of guanidine, C.K.Watanabe noted that guanidine, under certain condition, can cause hypoglycemia. Watanabe injected guanidine subcutaneously into rabbits, initially causing hyperglycemia followed by hypoglycemia within several hours. Inspired by these

The important elements of current understanding of diabetes mellitus can be traced to nineteenth century when modern scientific disciplines, including biochemistry and experimental physiology, acquired prominence in biological studies. In 1815, Eugene Chevreul in Paris proved that the sugar in urine of individuals with diabetes was glucose. Von Fehling developed quantitative test for glucose in

A medical condition producing excessive thirst, continuous urination, and severe weight loss has interested medical authors for over three millennia. Unfortunately, until the early part of twentieth century the prognosis for a patient with this condition was no better than it was over 3000 years ago. Since the ancient physicians described almost exclusively cases of