Human health, its performance depends largely on the ubiquitous “regulators of life” – hormones.
The elucidation of the role of these substances in the vital activity of the body, begun only a few decades ago, already today yields tangible results. Some experts believe that tomorrow’s medicine is an era of hormones.
In our country, the center that studies the nature of hormones is the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Chemistry of Hormones of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, headed by Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Nikolai Alekseevich Yudaev.
A number of studies conducted at the Institute are carried out in contact with research institutions of the USSR Academy of Sciences: Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Shemyakin Institute of Chemistry of Natural Compounds.
Such a community is necessary, because endocrinology today has become a general biological problem and joint efforts of scientists are needed to successfully solve it.
Our special correspondent I. Gubarev asked NA Yudaev to tell us about the latest trends in modern endocrinology.
Ancient legend testifies
Endocrinology, which studies the role of endocrine glands, is one of the youngest areas of biology and medicine. A lot of information about these glands was obtained only in the last century; almost endocrinology has developed in recent decades.
Does this mean that it was in the XIX and XX centuries that a person first encountered endocrine disorders? No, of course. Using literary sources as indirect evidence, one can say with certainty: the processes and phenomena studied by endocrinologists have been familiar to people for a very long time. And what today represents the content of the whole field of knowledge, being, in essence, “in sight”, remained unrecognized, misunderstood.
In the 30s of the XV century, the first books of the novel of the great French satirist Francois Rabelais “Gargantua and Pantagruel” were published. Here is how the author describes the genealogy of the heroes of this novel – wise, gay giants, whose adventures, “reveries and deeds” have attracted the readers’ attention for more than four centuries: … Once in the beginning of the world the earth was plucked by a great many dogwood, very pleasant in sight and good to the taste … But everyone who tried these large berries, was waiting for trouble. Some have a swollen abdomen, so much so that it was no longer the stomach, but a hefty barrel – the Almighty. Others have grown ears, nose has extended, arms and legs have increased. Others began to grow inordinately and along and across. From them something happened giants …
Legends, legends and parables about magic berries, changing appearance, about people-giants who grew up “along and across,” are old as the world. Strictly speaking, F. Rabelais himself took the plot for his novel-satire from the widespread in those days popular print “Chronicles of the great and huge giant Gargantua.” Later, these images have repeatedly used and Cervantes, and Swift, and storyteller Wilhelm Gauf.
For us, however, the most interesting novel is F. Rabelais. Indeed, in this case, an ancient parable was set forth by the observant physician who practiced in Montpellier and Lyon, “the doctor of medicine, Maitre Francois Rabelais,” as he himself pointed out on the title page of the novel.
And in all cases – whether it’s an open tale-fiction or a Rabelaisian grotesque, standing on the verge of monstrous and comical, – in the works that “exploited” this legend, there was invariably a grain of truth. It was about the fact that in the language of modern medicine we call endocrine disorders.
Yes, a change in appearance, sometimes very significant, is possible. For example, there are people whose growth is much larger (or, conversely, less) than usual. But it is explained not by magic force, but by the action of special substances circulating in our blood – hormones.
The ubiquitous regulators
The word “hormone” of Greek origin. It means “exciting.” What excite hormones? How and for what? Before answering these questions, we will get acquainted in the most general terms with the sphere where these substances are called upon to exert their influence.
First of all, these are emotions, which largely depend on the endocrine system. But this role of hormones is not limited, they take the most active part in all life processes.
The human body is a combination of unusually complex systems that perform diverse tasks. The respiratory system, for example, provides us with oxygen, the gastrointestinal tract supplies nutrients. Both oxygen and nutrients are delivered to all parts of the body by blood through a branched cardiovascular system.
Individual organs also have their own “individual tasks”: the liver observes the transformations of the bulk of the substances entering the body, the kidneys throw away the final products of metabolism, the heart sends powerful blood pumping along the vascular bed. In this case, each body is endowed with a certain degree of independence. No external influence (except catastrophic, of course), no effort of the will of man himself is able to stop the work of the liver, kidneys, heart; they can only slow or speed it up.
The organs, as is known, consist of tissues – muscular, nervous, connective, bony. The tissues, in turn, are formed by cells of different structure and purpose. Autonomy, which manifests itself already at the level of systems and organs, in tissues and in particular in cells reaches even larger scales. We are deprived of the opportunity to influence the constancy of the internal environment of the organism. In other words, regardless of our desire and our will in blood and lymph, organic and inorganic compounds – amino acids, glucose, fatty acids, as well as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and other substances – are needed to supply tissues.
Absolutely we do not control over tens of thousands of biochemical processes that continuously flow in cells. Here, under the influence of enzymes, split, enter into complex reactions and digest substances that are used to replenish energy costs, as well as to renew cells.
The scale of the processes occurring in the depths of the human body is grandiose. They reach astronomical values. After all, only the cells that make up our organs and tissues are more than 100 trillion. And every cell has its own terms of renewal, the dying of worn out parts and replacing them with new ones, their nutritional needs necessary to replenish the energy expended.
Essentially, the human body is a giant factory with many billions of production sites-cells, each of which simultaneously creates and requires the immediate resolution of thousands of different situations. Information about the work of this factory can not be considered and processed by any of the modern high-speed electronic computers. In other words, a person armed with the latest technology is not yet able to give an accurate assessment of all the processes occurring in his own organism.
Nature, which has perfected our organism during millions of years of evolution, copes with this task without visible efforts: all transformations and reactions taking place in cells are immediately recorded by a unified system of regulation. This system consists, in particular, of special, so-called endocrine glands, “scattered”, located on all parts of the body. Endocrine glands continuously monitor the needs of organs and tissues and, immediately reacting to each “request from the spot,” secrete complex chemical compounds – hormones – into the bloodstream.
On the blood vessels, the hormones are transported to the cells that sent the request. Here they penetrate through the cell membranes and, interacting with the carrier of hereditary DNA information, stimulate the development of appropriate enzymes, which, in turn, provide the synthesis of the necessary substances.
Substances-regulators – hormones, having carried out the task and having existed exactly as much as necessary, disintegrate and are carried away by a blood flow.
Small spool …
Unlike glands of the usual type, for example, salivary or sweat glands, endocrine glands supply all the substances they produce directly into the body’s blood. This property is reflected in their name (endocrine gland, or gland of internal secretion), formed from the Greek words “endo” – “deep” and “krino” – “highlight”.
The peculiarity of endocrine organs, however, is not limited to this. As a rule, these glands are independent formations, clearly delineated from surrounding organs and tissues. However, in some cases, secreting hormone-producing endocrine tissues are, as it were, “built in” into another body. (This, for example, is the site of the endocrine tissue of the pancreas, which is only a few percent of the total weight of this organ.)
These glands differ in small sizes. The largest of them – the thyroid gland by weight does not exceed 50 grams, the smallest weighs only 0.1-0.15 grams. The total weight of all tissues secreting hormones, in other words, the weight of the whole endocrine system of an adult, does not exceed 100 grams, which in comparison with other organs and systems looks more than modest.
Has nature stinted by creating endocrine organs? Not at all. The hormones produced by these glands are the most active of the known organic substances. And the body for its normal activity is often quite sufficient quantities that do not exceed a billionths of a gram. And this means that the need of the population of the entire globe in the “hormone of action” – adrenaline can be covered with 15-20 grams of this substance.
The small size of the glands, the absence of excretory ducts, the peculiar connection of these organs with the internal environment directly through the blood vessels and the more than modest amounts of hormones released by them, and were the reason that until recently the activity of the endocrine system remained practically unexplored. Thus, the adrenal glands were discovered by the Italian scientist Eustachius only in the middle of the 16th century. Two centuries later, France announced a competition for a better job, which would explain the purpose and role of this gland. The prize, relying on the terms of this contest, remained, alas, unclaimed: the first information about hormones secreted by the adrenal glands was obtained only in the 30s of this century.
“Our body hides in itself a large number of glandular organs, with which just recently science simply did not know what to do …” – wrote in 1920, the famous Austrian therapist Kemmerer.
And growth, and weight, and emotions
Yes, 50 years ago the situation was exactly like this. And today the information obtained by endocrinology is very significant. Faster and filled with a kind of “dossier” on each of the glands of the endocrine system. Here in the most general terms, some of the most significant data.
The most studied to date thyroid. With a semi-circle enclosing the larynx, it produces hormones that enhance the metabolism in the body.
Only a single injection into the experimental animal of just one milligram of thyroxine, the hormone of this gland, prompts the body to expend up to 1,000 large calories in response. Systematically introducing thyroxin, it is possible in a short time to achieve loss to animals of up to 70% of its fat stores. Thyroid hormones also affect the activity of the central and autonomic nervous system, take the most active part in the formation of a growing organism.
Near the thyroid gland there are four tiny neighbors – parathyroid, or parathyroid, glands, the total weight of which does not exceed 0.15 grams. The substance parathyroid hormone, produced by these glands, regulates the content in the body of an extremely necessary substance – calcium. Calcium balance is very important for us, since it depends on the strength of the supporting bone tissues, which form the basis of the skeleton, and the normal course of many biochemical reactions.
Carbohydrate metabolism is controlled by the pancreas, which produces hormones insulin and glucose. This gland, by the way, simultaneously acting as an external secretion gland, supplies the duodenum with digestive juices.
Adrenal glands, the location of which fairly accurately determines their very name, are very complex in structure. They consist of a cerebral substance and the outer surface that covers it – the cortex. Both these tissues, completely different in structure, produce hormones that are very important for us. The brain substance of the adrenals, in particular, gives the body adrenaline. This substance is able to influence the activity of the heart and blood vessels, contributing to rapid heartbeat and increased blood pressure in certain situations. It plays a certain role in a kind of “coloring of emotions”, imparting persistence to the behavior, the ability to make an operative decision in case of danger.
A significant amount of hormones, which are of great importance, produces the adrenal cortex. This cortisol, aldosterone, corticosterone and a number of others – all allocated and studied more than four dozens of substances in this series. These substances play a significant role in both the physical and mental life of the individual. They are aware of the mineral and water metabolism of the body, with their release into the blood are bound and “our adaptive responses to various extreme conditions.
The glands of internal secretion also include the sex glands – the testes in men and the ovaries in women. Testes produce substances related to the group of male hormones – androgens, ovaries – female hormones estrogens. These substances control sexual development.
The glands described so far are located at a comparative distance from the vital centers, on the periphery, as the anatomists say. Only one endocrine gland, unlike them, can be called, of course, conditionally central – both in terms of its role and location. It is the pituitary gland, the lower appendage of the brain.
The pituitary gland is an excellent example of how economically and expediently the device of the endocrine glands is. In size, this organ does not exceed a medium-sized bean, weighs on average not more than half a gram. And yet it is divided, in turn, into three parts – anterior, posterior and intermediate, each of which “lives” its own life and produces its own hormones.
The anterior part of the pituitary gland supplies, in particular, growth hormone, under the influence of which protein, phosphorus, calcium compounds and other “building materials”, which are necessary for the formation of tissues, are synthesized in the body. Here, a group of hormones that correct the activity of other endocrine glands, thyroid, genital, adrenal glands is produced. Thus, from the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland the correct functioning of almost the entire endocrine system depends.
The posterior lobe of the pituitary gland gives the body important hormones such as vasopressin, which causes vasoconstriction, and oxytocin, which affects uterine contraction. The role of the middle part of this gland and the hormones it secures is less clear today.
But the pituitary gland with its position of the central gland is not limited to the hierarchy of the endocrine system. The supreme control over the activity of the entire endocrine system is carried out from the central nervous system, from the so-called hypothalamus (the region of the pre-moraine of the intermediate brain). Studies of the hypothalamus have not yet been largely completed, but the data already available make it possible to draw a general picture of this command post. So, any information about the work of the endocrine glands, about the lack or about the excess of “hormones” allocated on the spot, immediately comes in the form of impulses-reports to the hypothalamus. In the hypothalamus, chemical compounds are formed in response to this, which are conventionally called releasing factors, or substances of distant action. Coming from the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland, these substances cause here the release of exactly the same amount of pituitary hormones. Each of them, in turn, stimulates the activity of the corresponding gland of internal secretion and acts in a certain way on the cells of the body.
Interest in releasing factors is unusually great. In our institute, some of them have recently been synthesized. These studies will make it possible to clarify the role of releasing factors in the vital activity of the organism.
Of course, these are only general outlines of modern endocrinology. Detailed information on a number of non-mentioned glands of internal secretion, a significant number (more than 50) of known, isolated and studied hormones today can be found in the specialized literature. It is possible to discover new hormones and even new endocrine tissues – with the help of the latest technique of the experiment, which will allow us to penetrate deeper into the intimate processes taking place in the body. This is quite natural: we are all witnesses to how many times in the past few years the Periodic Table of Mendeleev has been replenished with new elements. As they say in such cases, the research continues.
And if there is no balance!
Hormones, of course, are among the most active biological substances. Millionth and billionths of a gram of them undividedly dominate the miracle-construction of nature-the human body. By the way, we do not notice it at all. Everything happens “by itself.” Nerve impulses or chemical signals enter the hypothalamus. Follows the order of the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland gives an indication to the peripheral glands subordinate to it. Standing out and rushing to their destination are the necessary hormones …
Well, and if this does not happen? After all, the endocrine glands, like all living things, are prone to painful, pathological changes. The endocrine organ may be underdeveloped from birth, and the body in this case is doomed to lack, a deficiency of hormones. The gland grew slightly more than it was supposed to be overdeveloped, or, unfortunately, it also happens, a tumor developed on it. The number of cells secreting the hormone increases, and this hormone appears in excess in the blood.
The consequences of such disorders depend, of course, on the extent of dysfunction (breakdown) in the endocrine system. And the most significant such breakdowns entail heavy suffering for patients and considerable difficulties for physicians struggling with them.
Take, for example, excessive release of hormones. Hyperfunction, increased activity of the pituitary gland, in particular its anterior lobe, which generates growth hormone in young years, can lead to gigantism: a person’s height reaches 2-2.5 meters. Sudden intervention of growth hormone in the life of the body after it was already formed in 25-30 years, leads to the growth of individual tissues. So, the growth of bone tissue changes facial features. The growth of soft tissues increases the size of the lips, nose, cheeks. (How not to recognize the symptoms of this disease, which is called acromegaly, signs of the action of “magic dogwood berries”, which F. Rabelais told about!)
No less severe consequences can be caused by a lack of hormones. So, the lack of growth hormone leads to dwarfism. (In the press repeatedly met the description of Dwarf Agibe, whose growth did not exceed 38 centimeters.)
The American R. Hodges, who died in 1958 at the age of 32, weighed 468 kilograms, with the circumference of his waist exceeding 3 meters. Giant obesity in this case was caused by a lack of a hormone that regulates metabolism.
Deficiency of the hormone of the pancreas of insulin causes one of the most common endocrine diseases – diabetes mellitus.
Yes, it’s a disease.
It is hardly necessary to convince anyone how important it is to identify a disease before starting to treat it. Treatment without a diagnosis is like wandering in the dark. But how to treat the disease, if it is not considered a disease at all? This was the case several centuries ago with endocrine disorders.
Sharp irritability, exacerbated by the unrecognizability of the facial features, trembling of the hands, in some cases, the eyes are bulging, as if protruding from the orbits – such are the symptoms of the well-studied Graves disease. Caused by hyperfunction (increased activity) of the thyroid gland, this disease lends itself to successful treatment. And in the Middle Ages, her symptoms became “irrefutable evidence” of turning a woman into a … witch. And, it can be assumed, among the thousands of “witches” sent at that time to the fire by the Holy Inquisition, this kind of sick prevailed.
Endocrinological patients, who were lucky to avoid suspicion of evil spirit, dragged on a miserable existence in circus buffoons, in kunstkamery, like some “natural wonders”. They were bearded women, whose appearance changed, as we know today, the increased activity of the adrenal cortex, accompanied by hypersecretion of hormones of androgenic nature, “gutta-percha” people, whose striking joint mobility was caused by insufficient work of parathyroid glands, resulting in calcium deficiency in the bones.
… In 1829, the English doctor Murray first applied in the treatment of myxedema – a disease associated with insufficient activity of the thyroid gland, a drug prepared from the tissue of this gland! This episode opened the era of hormone therapy. (Note, by the way, that the very word “hormone” appeared much later, only in 1902.)
At the beginning, at the time of the formation of clinical endocrinology, diseases associated with a decrease in the activity of endocrine glands were treated with drugs prepared from the tissues of these glands. Later, with the development of chemistry, it was possible to identify the active principles of these tissues – hormones, which were used in their pure form.
Over time, numerous methods of treating endocrine diseases have been developed. However, in principle, they all boiled down to giving the body an extra amount of hormones in case of their lack or to reduce their amount in the blood.
So, with thyrotoxicosis (Graves’ disease), associated with an excess of thyroid hormones in the body, the surgical method of treatment proved to be very effective. Removal of a part of this gland with a subsequent course of special treatment eliminates the manifestations of the disease, restores the person to work. Disorders caused, on the contrary, by hypofunction – reduced activity of the thyroid gland, are eliminated by the administration of its hormones – triiodothyronine or thyroxine. At the bronze, or addison, illness associated with the violation of the adrenal glands, two hormones are simultaneously administered – hydrocortisone, normalizing the carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism, and regulating the exchange of salts – aldosterone (or similar to the drug deoxycorticosterone).
Finally, in the treatment of one of the most common endocrine diseases – diabetes mellitus these days – hormone insulin is successfully used. The introduction of this substance leads to the normalization of metabolic processes and facilitates the course of the disease.
At present, in the practice of medicine, insulin obtained from the pancreas of animals is used. This drug has been tested for a long time, but like any drug, it can cause an allergic reaction in some diabetic patients. The search for a more perfect insulin is being carried out all over the world. Such kind of research is conducted in our institute.
The problem of therapy of endocrine disorders has recently received a new direction of research. So, it was revealed that in some rather rare cases there is a situation when the endocrine gland is working properly, enough hormones are released into the blood, and endocrine disruption still occurs. This means that the cause of endocrine disease can be not only a lack of> or an excess of hormones, but also a special kind of immunity to these substances of tissue receptors. Why this happens is a complex problem, its solution is connected with clarifying the role of hormones’ influence on genes. We are working on this problem.
Outside of endocrinology
The first successes of endocrinologists in the treatment of hormones attracted the attention of physicians of other specialties. And attention was completely justified, and the results of treatment of non-endocrine diseases with hormonal drugs exceeded all expectations. A real sensation was caused by the use in 1949 of cortisone (a synthetic analog of hydrocortisone, produced in vivo by the adrenal glands). Severely ill, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, who was not helped by any remedies, after 5 days of cortisone administration again started walking, for which there was no hope left.
After this, there were reports of successful treatment with the same remedy rheumatism, bronchial asthma, silicosis, rheumatic heart disease. Cortisone was effective against a variety of diseases of the blood, skin, eyes. In surgery, this drug and its related compounds, corticosteroids, have been used to stabilize blood pressure, combat shock conditions, and in all other cases when it becomes necessary to increase the resistance, endurance of the body.
Thus, hormonal drugs rightfully took the place among the most effective drugs of modern medicine. But this does not mean that now we should abandon the old drugs, inferior in strength to the effects of hormonal drugs. Two decades with a wide use of hormonal drugs in therapeutic practice, of course, the term is small, but it is sufficient to sum up the first results. And the results were as follows.
First of all, hormonal drugs do not eliminate the cause of the disease, but only help the body to suppress it. “Cortisone does not eradicate the causes of the disease, but creates a buffer against the stimulus. It does not extinguish the fire, but forms an asbestos protection against it, “the American researcher Hench rightly noted. That is why with the termination of the course of these drugs, with the removal of “asbestos protection”, the fire may appear again – a relapse of the disease is possible.
Far from the indifference to the body and the consequences of the use of these funds. Strictly speaking, every medicine, especially strong one, brings to us harm without exception. Antibiotics or sulfopreparations can be toxic, cause an allergic reaction, etc. For hormonal drugs is characterized by a different. They primarily can lead to such shifts that are observed with endocrine disorders: metabolic disorders, sodium salt or water retention in the body, accompanied by swelling. As a rule, these phenomena disappear soon after the end of the course of treatment.
Much more seriously, another consequence of hormone therapy, which occurs when long-term administration of these funds in significant quantities. The intake of drug hormones suppresses the activity of the adrenal glands. And this, if not interrupted application of the drug in a timely manner, can lead to atrophy of the gland.
Of course, such complications are relatively rare. However, even the very possibility of such consequences makes one resort to these means with extreme caution.
Search directions
The discovery of the therapeutic effect of hormonal drugs is of great importance for medicine. It essentially means a transition to a new, higher level of cognition. Figuratively speaking, this discovery can be called a deep breakthrough into a new, unexplored area. Now, in order to fully substantiate and study the data obtained, the whole front of biology and medicine must be advanced considerably.
Strictly speaking, today we can name the areas where the search should be conducted most intensively. This is primarily research related to problems number one and number two of modern medicine – cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
One of the main tasks in solving the problem of cardiovascular diseases is the fight against atherosclerosis. The formation of characteristic atherosclerotic “plaques” and other changes in the walls of the vessels have long been considered the result of an unbroken intake of foods rich in cholesterol.
Not ignoring the nutritional factor, which plays an extremely important role in our life, researchers attach importance to other causes, including hormonal metabolism.
Thus, endocrinologists face the challenge of developing and improving hormonal drugs that can affect lipid metabolism and at the same time not have a side effect on the body. At the same time, studies should continue, deeper disclosing the relationship of hormonal regulation with atherosclerotic changes occurring in the body.
Now about oncology. In this field of medicine, already today, a significant place is given to research and treatment of so-called hormone-dependent (or dyshormonal) tumors. These include malignant neoplasms of the ovaries, adrenals, and the breast. According to statistics, this is about half of all types of malignant neoplasms.
The relationship between the hormonal balance of the organism and these types of tumors has been confirmed experimentally. Some of these tumors are reproduced in experimental animals with the help of intensive administration of certain hormones, others – by surgical intervention, pursuing the same goal – to disrupt the hormonal balance in the body. The same applies to clinical practice, where hormonal drugs are used to treat hormone-dependent tumors.
Thus, expanding our knowledge of the nature of the appearance of such neoplasms in the experiment, accumulating experience in the clinical use of hormonal drugs, should deepen our knowledge of the conditions conducive to the development of tumors, should seek the most appropriate, optimal methods of therapeutic intervention for the prevention and treatment of these diseases .
Speaking about the future of endocrinology in general – both near and far enough, we can outline the following extremely promising areas of work.
We must first of all improve the methods for determining the content of hormones in the blood and other biological media. To do this, using the latest techniques, the hormonal balance of the organism of a healthy person, as well as all age-related abnormalities and disorders related to diseases, is comprehensively and exhaustively studied.
Further. We are to develop the most subtle, physiological tactic of therapeutic intervention in the secretory activity of the endocrine glands. It means replenishing the “hormonal boiler” of the body with missing hormones. The most perfect, close to natural chemical analogues of these substances we get from pharmacologists. These are the cases when it will be possible to artificially stimulate the activity of endocrine glands.
In short, we still have to learn the hormonal balance of the organism in its entirety and find effective ways to restore it in necessary cases.
Hormones and longevity
So, for hormones there is a “last word” in many complex diseases. But we would have narrowed the scope of the problem a lot if we limited ourselves to only the topic “Hormones and Diseases”. Hormones and health, hormones and longevity – this is the ultimate goal of endocrinology.
The violation of the hormonal balance, as we have seen, is sometimes associated with diseases. And at the same time, violations in the equilibrium of the “common hormonal boiler” are unavoidable. At least three times in life a person overcomes the band of “hormonal disharmony”.
This is observed for the first time in the smallest. Endocrine glands of newborns come into operation gradually, and often in the body of children there is a shortage of certain hormones. Hence the frequent violations of the exchange, which, as a rule, eventually pass without a trace.
It is also well known, with what changes are connected the onset of adolescent, “difficult” age. One of the reasons for this is a sharp, spasmodic “putting into operation” of the sexual glands. And in this case, as in the early childhood, the organism, endowed with a significant reserve of compensatory, additional opportunities, usually copes with violations of hormonal equilibrium without any significant losses.
And, finally, the third period comes about at the age of 40-50 years. At this time, a slow, often also uneven weakening of the functions of certain endocrine glands begins.
If at an early and young age nature counterposes (to the violation of the hormonal balance the increased compensatory capacity of the organism, in the mature years the decrease in the activity of some glands, as a rule, “overlaps” with the hard work of other glands. But since in these years the human body reacts much more sharply to any a violation of hormonal balance, more and opportunities for breakdown of the mechanism of hormonal regulation, hence the associated with this disease breakdown.
The first attempts to find an effective way and influence the inexorably approaching old age, “rejuvenate” the body belong to the end of the last century. The prominent French physiologist Brown-Sekar in 1889, injecting himself with an extract of testes, noted the beneficial, rejuvenating effect of these injections. Observation of Brown-Sekar served as an impetus for numerous studies of this kind, which, unfortunately, unfortunately did not confirm so promising, it seemed, initiative. (By the way, the opinion was expressed that the successful character of the injection was most likely explained purely by a psychotherapeutic effect, or by self-suggestion.) Attempts to replicate the Brown-Sekar studies continued until the 1920s, but in all cases equally unsuccessfully. Otherwise, however, it could not be. After all, the appearance of an excess of one or even several hormones in the “best hormone” in a “general hormonal boiler” was able to have a short-term effect, after which a deterioration in the state associated with a violation of the hormonal balance was inevitable.
But nevertheless, the idea expressed at the end of the last century, when endocrinology was, in fact, in its infancy, in principle, is feasible. Having the data on the hormonal equilibrium of a healthy organism, having control over the hormonal balance, using the latest computer technology, and also learning to influence this balance in a complex and directed way, the endocrinologists will not only help a person to cross the third, most risky band of “hormonal disharmony” but, probably, solve the problem of prolonging a person’s life, especially his creative life.