Julius Axelrod Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Julius Axelrod (May 30, 1912 - ) is an influential American biochemist who is most well known for his work on the catecholamine neurotransmitters, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1970 along with Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler.
Research
Axelrod's early research focused on how analgesics (pain-killers) work. During the 1940s, users of non-aspirin analgesics were developing a blood condition known as methemoglobinemia. Axelrod and his mentor, Bernard Brodie, discovered that acetanilide, the main ingredient of these pain-killers, was to blame, and recommended replacement with acetaminophen, better known as Tylenol.
Axelrod received his Nobel Prize for his work on the release, reuptake and storage of the neurotransmitters epinephrine and norepinephrine, also known as adreniline and noradreniline. Working on monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors in 1957, Axelrod showed that catecholamine neurotransmitters do not merely stop working after they are released into the synapse. Instead, neurotransmitters are recaptured (reuptaken) by the pre-synaptic nerve ending, and recycled for later transmissions. He theorized that epinephrine is held in tissues in an inactive form and is liberated by the nervous system when needed. Axelrod also discovered and characterized the enzyme catechol-O-methyl transferase.
Axelrod's later research focused on the pineal gland. He and his colleagues showed that melatonin has profound effects on the central nervous system, allowing the pineal gland to act as a biological clock. He proved that melatonin is a converted form of the neurotransmitter serotonin and that the pineal gland regulates the release of serotonin to drive the body's circadian rhythm.
Biography
Axelrod was born in New York City. He recieved his bachelor's degree from the College of the City of New York and his master's from New York University in 1941. In 1949, he began work at the National Heart Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the National Heart Institute, he worked on the mechanisms and effects of caffeine, which led him to an interest in the sympathetic nervous system and its main neurotransmitters, epinephrine and norepinephrine. During this time, Axelrod also conducted research on codeine, morphine, methamphetamine, and ephedrine and performed some of the first experiments on LSD. Realizing that he could not advance his carreer without a Ph.D., he took a leave of absence from the NIH in 1954 to attend George Washington University. Allowed to submit some of his previous research toward his degree, he graduated one year later, in 1955. Axelrod then returned to the NIH, where he worked until his retirement in 1984.