Bergstrom (Bergstrom), Suna

genus. January 10, 1916
Swedish biochemist Sune Karl Bergstrom was born in Stockholm. His parents were Sverker BergstrцІm and Vera BergstrцІm (Vistrand). In 1934, Mr.. He graduated from high school and started working at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm under the leadership of Eric Yorpesa. Yorpes studied the clinical application of heparin - a substance, . anticlotting, . - And suggested that B., . who became his assistant, . address biochemistry of lipids (fats) and steroids (group of compounds, . basic structure of which is a special form of carbon ring and includes a number of hormones and bile acids),
. 1938 B. spent in England, working fellow at the London University and studied the biochemistry of bile acids. These acids are formed by cells in the liver and bile ducts are provided in the small intestine, where they participate in the digestion and absorption of lipids.
The following year, B. received a scholarship from the British Council for further studies in Edinburgh, but at this time of the Second World War, and the fellowship was canceled. In 1940. B. received the Swedish-American scholarship for training in the United States and the following two years working researcher at Columbia University in New York and the Institute for Medical Research Squibb in New Jersey. Here he collaborated with Oscar Vintershteynerom recognized authority in the field samookisleniya cholesterol. Samookislenie - a chemical process by which a substance combines with oxygen at room temperature and normal pressure.
In 1942, Mr.. term internships B. expired and he returned to Sweden. In 1944, Mr.. He received a medical degree at the Karolinska Institute and was appointed assistant in the Department of Biochemistry, Nobel Medical Institute (at Karolinska Institute). In this capacity, he worked for three years. At this time, B. investigated samookislenie linoleic acid, which is part of some vegetable fats and indispensable in the diet of man. Finding that for the oxidation of this acid requires the enzyme lipoxygenase, contained in soybeans, B. participated in clean-up of this enzyme in the laboratory of Hugo Hugo Theorell's Karolinska Institute. In 1945, Mr.. He reported the results of this work at a meeting of the Physiological Society at Karolinska Institutet.
Present at this meeting, Ulf von Euler later told B. on their research of prostaglandins biologically active substances derived from the prostate and seminal vesicles. Prostaglandins were first described in 1930. group of gynecologists from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. These researchers found that during the artificial insemination semen cause contraction and relaxation of smooth muscles of the uterus. Subsequently Euler isolated from sheep seminal fluid substance, also stimulating uterine. He found that this substance reduces the tone of the walls of blood vessels and causes a decrease in blood pressure. Euler named the substance is a prostaglandin, since it was first discovered in the secret of the prostate (prostate). In 1945, Mr.. Euler gave extracts of the prostate B., who with the help of a new extraction unit of the United States was able to achieve a high degree of purification of these extracts. B. controlled studies extraction on a strip of smooth muscle of rabbit. spent as a researcher at the University of Bern in Switzerland, and then he was offered a professorship at Lund University in Sweden. With support from the Swedish Medical Research Council and the American National Institutes of Health B. undertook the reconstruction and development of the scientific departments of the University, which were abandoned during the war. In addition, he was engaged in training graduate students (one of his pupils was Bengt Samuelsson), and resumed his studies of prostaglandins. In 50 ... 60-ies. He and his team collected and processed a large number of seminal glands of sheep, which allowed us to obtain a lot of seminal fluid for isolation and study of prostaglandin. In 1957. B. with his team isolated and purified a small amount of two compounds from this group. Their molecular weights and chemical formulas were determined by researchers from the Karolinska Institute Ragnar Rihage and other scientists from the Stockholm and Uppsala. These joint efforts led to the deciphering of the chemical structure of the first of prostaglandins.
In 1958, Mr.. B. was promoted to Professor of Chemistry, Karolinska Institute, where he soon began to work and Samuelson. Over the next four years B. and its employees contributed 6 of prostaglandins, each containing 20 carbon atoms, and was similar in structure to certain fatty acids. This led to assume that Prostaglandins are formed from fatty acids. Test this assumption, B. in 1964. found that the predecessor (ie. substance from which the synthesis) of prostaglandins is arachidonic acid - of unsaturated fatty acids, part of the vegetable oils and animal fats. In the next few years he studied the ways of formation of prostaglandins. In the course of their work B. and Samuelson found that arachidonic acid and enzymes necessary for the formation of prostaglandins from it, are contained in all nucleated cells of animals. Different tissues emit different prostaglandins, in turn, perform different biological functions. The most studied groups of prostaglandins E and F.
From 1963 to 1966. B. worked as the Dean of Faculty of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, and from 1969 to 1977. - Rector of the Institute. Over the years, the institute, a series of studies on the biological functions of prostaglandins. It was found that prostaglandins group E vasorelaxant effect, ie. reduce the tone of the walls of blood vessels, thus leading to a decrease in blood pressure. In addition, they may prove useful for the treatment of patients with lesions of the peripheral vessels, which become apparent deterioration of blood flow in them, as well as for the treatment of certain congenital diseases of the cardiovascular system. Prostaglandins E groups also protect gastric mucosa from ulceration and toxic effects of aspirin and indomethacin (anti-inflammatory drugs). Prostaglandin F group have a vasoconstrictor effect: they cause contraction of the smooth muscle walls of blood vessels and, consequently, increased blood pressure. In addition, they stimulate the smooth muscles of the uterus and therefore can be used for abortion.
In 1982, Mr.. B. with Samuelson and John Wayne was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discoveries concerning prostaglandins and similar biologically active substances'. Hearing that the Nobel Prize with him and share his pupil Wayne Samuelson, B. said that 'there is no greater satisfaction than seeing the success of their students'.
In his Nobel lecture, called 'The prostaglandins: from the laboratory to the clinic' ( 'The Prostaglandins: From the Laboratory to the Clinic'), B. demonstrated the importance of early studies of prostaglandins, as well as more advanced clinical work, in which he participated. Clarification of the nature of prostaglandins and their biological significance has made a valuable contribution in many fields of medicine and laid the foundation for the acquisition of new knowledge and developing new treatments.
In 1943, Mr.. B. married Mae Gernandt. They have one son.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, B. was awarded the prize for medicine Anders Yar, . awarded by the University of Oslo (1970), . Prize Louisa Gross Horwitz, Columbia University (1975), . Albert Lasker Award for basic medical research (1977) and medals Bara Holberg Swedish Society,
. In 1975. He was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nobel Foundation. From 1977 to 1982. He was president of the Advisory Committee on Health Research World Health Organization. According to B., this work he has devoted about a third of his time, "traveling the world and helping to build scientific institutions'.
B. was a member of the Swedish Medical Research Council and the Swedish Council for Natural Sciences Research. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.