SUTHERLAND (Sutherland), Earl

November 19, 1915, Mr.. - September 3, 1974
American biochemist, Earl Wilbur Sutherland was born in a small town in eastern Kansas Birlingham. He was the fifth of six children in the family. His father, who bore the same name with his son, for 10 years worked as a farmer in New Mexico and Oklahoma, then moved to Burlingame, where with the help of his wife Edith Sutherland (Hartshorne) and the children started work manufactory. As a child, Earl could not at liberty to walk the woods and fields and has since retained throughout his life a love of nature. At school he was actively engaged in sports, especially basketball, football and tennis. Book Paul de Krayfa 'Hunters for the microbes', in an accessible form depicting the work of Louis Pasteur and other prominent medical scientists, piqued the interest of the young Earl of biology and medicine.
In 1933. S. enrolled at Washburn College in g. Topeka (Kansas), but during the Great Depression, his parents are completely ruined. Adding to those scholarship funds, which he earned as a medic at the local hospital, with. able to continue their education and in 1937. received a bachelor's degree. In the same year he began studying medicine in medical school at Washington University in St. Louis. The course is conducted Pharmacology Carl Cori, and C. became his student. He made a good impression on his work, Cory, and he offered him the post of student lab. This C. not only an idea about the scientific work, but also established a strong friendship with Corey
In 1942, Mr.. S. received a medical degree and wishing to engage in medical practice, he entered an intern at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. At the end of the Second World War he was drafted into the army and has worked as a battalion surgeon, and then a doctor in a military hospital in Germany.
In 1945, Mr.. S. demobilized and returned to St. Louis. Here, before him there was a problem of choosing between medical practice and scientific work. Subsequently, he wrote: "Cory has convinced me - not the words but by example - that I should take up research work '. Over the next 8 years. worked at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, first teacher, and then Associate Professor. At this time he concentrated his efforts on two fronts. First, he was researching phosphorylase - an enzyme catalyzing the splitting of glycogen in the liver and muscles (glycogen is broken down as needed to glucose in the body - carbohydrates, which serves as a source of energy in the body). Secondly, he tried to determine how the hormones adrenaline (produced by the brain with a layer of the adrenal glands) and glucagon (a hormone of the pancreas) caused the release of glucose from the liver.
In 1953, Mr.. S. headed the Department of Pharmacology, University of Western Reserve in Cleveland. By this time, he found that the first stage of the collapse of the glycogen in extracts from the liver is stimulated by adrenaline or glucagon, and then catalyzed by phosphorylase. Detailed study of phosphorylase, . He found, . in liver extracts, there are still two enzymes: one of them into active phosphorylase in the inactive (in this case stands inorganic phosphate), . the second reactivates inactive phosphorylase, . while inorganic phosphate is included in its molecule,
. This cycle of reactions of phosphorylation-dephosphorylation is one of the most important processes responsible for the allocation of energy in the body.
. At the same time, biochemists from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ervin Krebs and Edmund Fisher found a similar enzyme in the muscle and showed, . that the reactivation of phosphorylase in the muscle tissue occurs in the presence of the nucleotide adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and a special enzyme, . which is now known as kinase,
. phosphorylase. Based on these data, C. Theodore and his staff tried to add a roll to drugs with inactive phosphorylase and ATP hormones in order to determine which of them stimulate the activation reaction. As a result, they showed that in cell-free extracts of both epinephrine and glucagon cause the formation of the active form of phosphorylase. Previously it was thought that hormones have a direct effect on the cell as a whole, this work is shedding new light on the mechanisms of action of hormones - in particular, was a proof that the effect of hormones is a molecular process.
. Continuing his studies, C
. discovered a previously unknown substance - cyclic 3 ', 5'-adenosine monophosphate (c-AMP). This substance promoted conversion of inactive phosphorylase to active and responsible for the release of glucose into the cell. Open M-AMP allowed C. formulate a hypothesis of secondary mediators (instant messengers) in the action of hormones, explaining how hormones transmit signals target-tissues. S. suggested that hormones such as adrenaline and glucagon, are the primary mediators, stand out from their places of education and carries blood to the tissues-targets. Here, they bind to receptors on the outer surface of cells, and this reaction is a signal to cells to increase the activity of adenylyl cyclase - the enzyme, lying on its inner surface. In turn, activation of adenylyl cyclase causes the formation of c-AMP, which serves a secondary mediator (mediator), which stimulates the specific functions of many already existing in the cell enzymes. This view explains why glucagon and epinephrine effects upon the liver cells in the same qualitative effect.
Initially, the allocation c-AMP did not attract much attention of scientists, but later it was recognized that C. discovered a new biological principle - a common mechanism of action of many hormones. Moreover, he found that adenylyl cyclase can be activated not only by adrenaline and glucagon and that M-AMP acts, except phosphorylase, and other enzyme systems.
In 1963, Mr.. S. became professor of physiology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville (Tennessee), and here he was able to devote all his time to research. By focusing exclusively on the study of c-AMP, he and his colleagues showed that this substance serves as a secondary mediator (mediator) for more than 12 mammalian hormones. In addition, it was found that c-AMP is involved in regulating the activity of nerve cells, and gene expression in bacteria. So some amoebae c-AMP is a signal for the association of individual cells in the reproductive units. The presence of c-AMP in multicellular and in unicellular organisms indicates that this substance has come to play the role of regulator of cellular processes at a very early stage of evolution.
In 1971, Mr.. S. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discoveries concerning the mechanisms of action of hormones'. In presenting the awards researcher from the Karolinska Institute, Peter Reichardt noted that, although the existence of hormones has been known for a long time, the mechanisms of their actions to work with. were a complete mystery. Open M-AMP, he added, found "one of the fundamental principles of almost all processes of life '.
By that time, as P. received the Nobel Prize, c-AMP was studied more than 2 thousand. researchers. His discoveries led to the emergence of new areas in a variety of disciplines - from endocrinology to oncology and psychiatry, even as, according to S., this substance 'affects everything - from memory to the toes'. Since 1971. S. began to study the cyclic 3 ', 5'-guanosine monophosphate (c-GMP), which is the same as M-AMP, is widely distributed in mammalian tissues and is the lower animals. In 1973, Mr.. S. moved to the University of Miami. The following year he died at the age of 58 after severe bleeding from the esophagus.
In 1937, Mr.. S. married Mildred Rice. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1963, Mr.. He married Claudia Sebestyen. In the family they had four children. On C. spoke as an open, sociable and good-natured man. According to Carl Cori, have identified several features of the scientific advances S.: 'The first and perhaps most important - is that he possessed the gift of intuition. He was able to put the desired experiment in the most appropriate time, not always clearly understand why he does so. Secondly, his intuition has been developed so that in a remarkable tenacity ... Thirdly, he was an excellent laboratory researcher, who could not recall any experiment ever delivered by him and his employees'. These features should be added, said Cory, 'ambition, enormous energy and vibrancy and originality of solutions'.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, C. was awarded Toralda Sollmena in pharmacology, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapy (1969), . Dickson Prize in Medicine University of Pittsburgh (1970), . Albert L Asker Prize for basic medical research (1970) and awards for scientific achievement of the American Heart Association (1971),
. He was a member of the American Society of Biochemistry, American Chemical Society, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapy and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was awarded honorary degrees from Yale and Washington universities.