Evening star., 1954-04-26
New Hormone
Held Linked
With Sanity
Scientist Academy
Told Thut Source Is
Giont Poison Toad
By Thomas R. Henry

A possible sanity hormone,"
present in man but obtained
chiefly from the neck glands Of
a giant tropical toad, was de-
scribed before the National
Academy of Sciences at it's an
nual meeting here today.
The substance is serotonin, an
apparently extremely potent
body chemical, whose existence
has been known for only two or
three years and whose function
up to now has been confined
supposedly to regulation of blood
pressure.
Now, according to a report to
the academy meeting in the
Academy of Science Building by
Drs. D w. Woolley and E. w.
Shaw of the Rockefeller Insti-
tute. this extremely elusive sub
stance is possibly the major link
between the human mind and
reality and absolutely essential
in maintaining sanity. Their
findings are based on extensive
animal experimentS.
Various drugs have been
known for years to produce pro-
nounced mental symptoms
Among these is the extremely
potent yohimbrine, obtained
from the bark of an Argentine
tree. which mas a limited use
in medicine as an antiSpaS-
modic and which has a pro-
nounced aphrodiSiac effect
which requires that It's use be
strictly controlled. In overdoseS
it causes symptoms quite SINH
lar to those of various types of
insanity.
Role in Cancer Research.
When discovery of serotonin
was announced. the Rockefeller
Institute doctors were impressed
by the fact that it was chemi-
cally very similar to these aka
loids-so much so that body cells
might easily mistake one for the
other. This brought them TO
the relatively new medical field
of substitution therapy. which
now has big role in cancer re-
search.
Substances very similar chem
ically to anime acids necessary
to build cancer cells are used.
But these substances, instead of
promoting cell growth, act as
violent poisons. The cancer
cells are deceived by the SINH
larity and accept the poisons
rather than the nutrients. Some
hold that this is the most prom
ising approach to curing cancer.
The Rockefeller Institute doc =.
tors wondered, DR.. Woolley re-
ported, whether the same thing
Aight not be happening in the
brain in reverse, producing the
various forms of insanity which
sometimes are described as can
GERS of the personality" Their
suspicious were strengthened
with the recent introduction of
a new synthetic drug into pSy-
Chiatric research. lysergic acid.
Relatively small amounts of
this given a normal person pro-
duce all the symptoms of the
dread mind disease, schizoph-
renia. Lysergic acid was chem
ically so close to serotonin that
brains cells could easily mistake
one for the other. When this
happened the supply of the
harmone to the brain would be
greatly reduced. The same hap
pened when other "anti-meta-
bolites" similar to lySergic acid
were Sy1CIleSlZeQ.
The presence of serotonin in
the brain in considerable
amounts hitherto had not been
suspected. They found that such
amounts were present, indicat-
ing that the harmone must have
some important function in brain
operation. They also deduced
that there was no logical reason
why vohimbrine. lysergic acid
or any of the other drugs would
have direct action on the brain
cells.
Injections Possible.
If the implications are sup
ported by further experiment.
DR. Woolley said, the proper
treatment of several of the most
prevalent forms of insanity may
be by injections of the hormone
to restore the brain balance.
Their animal experiments
showed. however, that Serotonin
injected into the blood will not
pass through the brain cell bar
rier and it may be necessary to
synthesize some Serotonin-like
compound to overcome this diff
ticulty
Other experiments indicated in
discussions of the report give
strong evidence that this new
hormone may be of great sig
nificance to human health in
other fields. 1t was discovered
few years ago when a few
grams were isolated from several
hundred tons of beef blood.
Shock Treatment Effect
Persists in Rats Sex Life
Hitherto unsuspected effects
of electro-convulsive shocks on