Sanford Rosenthal
Sanford Morris Rosenthal (May 5, 1897 – May 1, 1989) was born in Albany, Georgia.[1]
Dr Sanford Rosenthal MD | |
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National Institute of Health |
Early life and career
He received a medical degree at Vanderbilt University in 1920, and completed a residency and internship at Boston City Hospital (1921–1922).[2] However, his interests shifted to medical research when he became a Fellow of the National Research Council in a pharmacology lab at Johns Hopkins University (1922–1925).[2] He worked in the Department of Pharmacology at
Major contributions to medicine
Liver function tests
Rosenthal's first published paper provided a method for testing the health of the liver.[4] He showed that the rate at which the liver metabolizes an ingested dye can be used to quantify how well this organ functions. His continued work on
Mercury poisoning antidote
Rosenthal discovered that sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate was an antidote for mercury poisoning.[7] This antidote was widely used, and Rosenthal's discovery is considered one of the major achievements in the history of medical research at the NIH.
Antibiotic cure for pneumonia
Based on his observation that sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate also has antibacterial activity,[8] Rosenthal began work on another group of sulfur-containing compounds -– the sulfa drugs. His decade-long work on sulfa drugs led to his discovery of a treatment for pneumococcal pneumonia with sulfanilamide.[9]
Burn therapy
In the early 1940s, Rosenthal worked on improving the ability of victims of severe burns to survive. Death commonly resulted from shock due to fluid (plasma) loss from the burned skin.[10] He discovered that the replacement of the salts that are in the secreted plasma is the key to a successful and simplified treatment.[10] During the 1950s and early 1960s, Rosenthal and colleagues undertook a long-term study to test the efficacy of drinking a saline solution (containing table salt and baking soda) to replace the lost salts (the "Peru Project").[11] His research group demonstrated that this therapy was an effective alternative to the traditional treatment using intravenous injections of whole blood or plasma.[11] The simplified burn therapy remains widely used.[12]
Histamines
Rosenthal and his collaborators were pioneers in the area of histamine biochemistry and physiology. They developed a widely used method for quantifying histamine,[13] worked on the pharmacology of histamines,[14] and determined the biosynthetic pathway for spermidine.[15] Rosenthal also collaborated in research on the role of polyamines in the function of viral DNA.[16]
Awards and honors
Rosenthal was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1979.[1] He was also a member of
In 1962, he received the
References
- ^ a b c "DR. SANFORD M. ROSENTHAL DIES". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b c d e "Rosenthal Retires After 33 Years Service at NIH" (PDF). p. 3.
- PMID 1147003.
- ^ Rosenthal, S.M. (1922). "An improved method for using phenoltetrachlorphthlalein as a liver function test". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 19: 385–391.
- .
- ^ Plaa, G.L. (2010). "Evaluation of hepatotoxicity: physiological and biochemical measures of hepatic function in animals". In McQueen, C.A. (ed.). Comprehensive Toxicology. Vol. 9. Elsevier, New York. pp. 129–140.
- .
- JSTOR 4581259.
- ^ Rosenthal, S.M. (1937). "The chemotherapy of certain infections with sulfanilamide and related compounds". Medical Annals of the District of Columbia. 6: 337–343.
- ^ JSTOR 4584415.
- ^ .
- PMID 20827301.
- PMID 18911841.
- PMID 13296028.
- PMID 13587513.
- S2CID 9934860.