Richet (Richet), Charles

August 26, 1850, Mr.. - December 4, 1935
French physiologist Charles Robert Richet born in Paris, the son of Professor of Clinical Surgery, Medical Faculty, University of Paris, Alfred Richet Richet and Eugenie (Ruar). At the end of the regular elementary and secondary schools, Charles decided to go to his father's footsteps and take up medicine. He entered the University of Paris, but soon realized that he was not interested in practical medicine, and research. In addition, it attracted the humanities, and interest in him, he kept all his life.
As a medical student, P. studied hypnosis, digestive secrets and the influence of pain on the activities of muscles and nerves. In 1877, Mr.. He received a medical degree, and the following year he defended his doctoral thesis, which first demonstrated the presence of hydrochloric acid in the secret of the stomach in mammals, birds and invertebrates. In addition, he found that during digestion in the stomach there is a form of lactic acid. In the same year he became a professor at the Medical Faculty, University of Paris and began studying different types of muscle contraction.
In 1883, Mr.. R. investigated the mechanisms of maintaining a constant temperature of the internal environment of warm-blooded animals, in particular the evaporation from the mucous membranes and muscle tremors. He found that the regulation of body temperature correspond to specific parts of the brain and that the heat of an animal depends on the size of his body (the larger the animal, the less heat per unit mass). In addition, he was interested in microbiology, and especially the content of bacteria in liquid media the organism, the topic was part of his research on digestion.
In 1880, Mr.. Louis Pasteur announced the discovery of ways to protect chickens from avian cholera. Attending the experiment, in which Pasteur entered chickens weakened cholera bacteria grown in artificial medium, R. interested in the idea that diseases caused by microbes that may be associated with the elaboration of the toxin, which impede the action of chemical substances of blood. The following year, he put forward the suggestion that the French sheep exposed to anthrax, can be protected against the disease, the blood pouring them resistant to his Algerian sheep. However P. able to test this hypothesis, only in 1888 when I began more carefully study the properties of the blood of infected animals.
Working with Jules Erikurom, P. discovered the bacterium Staphylococcus, causing fatal disease in rabbits, but only limited ulcers infected with these bacteria dogs. Direct transfusion of rabbits in the vein blood of dogs in order to give them resistance to the bacteria have a toxic effect. However, if the blood of transfused rabbits, dogs in the peritoneum cavity (the space between the peritoneum), . from which the blood is slowly absorbed, . the transfer resistance was carried out successfully and rabbits acquired immunity to subsequent infection with Staphylococcus.,
. Then P
. Erikur and decided to use their 'chemotherapy' (later called serum therapy, or serotherapy) to human disease. They started with tuberculosis. As later acknowledged ER, it was a bad choice: 'serum therapy of tuberculosis is doubtful, while in the case of diphtheria, it gives wonderful results, which showed two years later [Emil von] Behring in the excellent work'. For 10 years, P. and his colleague tried unsuccessfully to develop serum therapy of tuberculosis.
In 1890. R. participated in various studies, unrelated to physiology, in particular, tried unsuccessfully to build an airplane. By the end of this decade, P. Erikur and were forced to admit that their original goal - serum therapy of tuberculosis - is not reached. However, they found that feeding raw meat leads to the improvement of patients with tuberculosis dogs. In 1900, Mr.. R. proved that 'zomoterapiya' (meals of raw meat juice) may be effective in treatment of tuberculosis in humans.
In 1901, when P. studied the toxic effect of direct administration of muscle tissue in the vein, he was able to improve their knowledge in toxicology. In a scientific expedition in the Mediterranean Sea with Prince Albert of Monaco, he was instructed to investigate the poisonous tentacles of Portuguese man -. After some preliminary experiments P. returned to France, where he began a comparative study of the poison sea anemones. He introduced the poison dogs in different concentrations to determine the toxic dose. If the dogs survived, then a few weeks they re-enter the poison. And, as he wrote, R., 'suddenly discovered a stunning fact, which I myself believe with great difficulty'. When the dog is re-introduced much smaller dose of venom, they quickly killed. R. called this phenomenon anaphylaxis, t. to. it was a preventative (warning) the effect of routine immunization.
Anaphylaxis is crucial for medicine. Thus antidiphtheritic serum developed by Behring, not always produced the desired effect: in some patients developed a violent reaction to it, until death. According to P. they died of anaphylactic shock - extreme allergic reaction to foreign proteins, or antigens. In sensitive individuals can cause anaphylaxis horse serum, used for immunization against tetanus toxin, as well as, for example, bee stings or penicillin. Regardless of the nature of antigen, some common symptoms of anaphylaxis are the same: vomiting, itching, lower blood pressure, fainting, shortness of breath, lower temperature and even death.
In 1900-ies. R. other scientists have conducted many studies examining anaphylaxis. In 1911, Mr.. R. summarized his work in the monograph 'Anaphylaxis' ( "Anaphylaxis"). He explained this phenomenon by the fact that 'anaphylaxis in the blood is a substance in itself harmless, but it distinguishes a strong poison, when mixed with antigen'. Showing that such substances are proteins, P. developed a specific diagnostic test for detection of hypersensitivity reactions.
In 1913, Mr.. R. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis'. In his Nobel lecture P. indicated that, if anaphylaxis is' an accident for an individual, it is at the same time needed for the species in general, often at the expense of the individuals ... [as] anaphylaxis protects the species from incest '. Thus to maintain the individuality of each species. Through the work of P. physicians not only understand the value of prevention, but also learned about the reverse side. During the First World War, P. studied the complications of blood transfusion.
In 1877, Mr.. R. married Amelia Aubrey. In the family they had two daughters and two sons (one of them also became a professor of medicine at the University of Paris, in the footsteps of P. went and his grandson). R. was a man full of the talented and had a variety of interests: he was a physiologist, bacteriologist, pathologist, psychologist, statistician, engineer, poet, playwright and writer. He studied the psyche. In 1923, Mr.. in the English translation of his book 'Thirty years of research psyche' ( "Thirty Years of Psychical Research"), in which he described his experiments in this area. As a convinced pacifist, P. written several books, telling about the horrors of war. R. died in Paris on December 4, 1935
P. was elected to the French Academy of Sciences. In 1926, Mr.. He became a knight of the Legion of Honor. In addition, he spent 17 years old was one of the publishers 'Journal of physiology and pathology' ( "Journal de Physiologic et Pathologie Generale") and for 24 years - the publisher of 'scientific review' ( "Revue Scientifique").