Evening star., 1954-09-20
BY Alton Z Blokeslee
Axsoc;c,Ad pgasx Seiag,se Wrifes

by Alton =. bIokesIee
Associoisd Press Seisnss Writer
WOODS HOLE. Mass. Sept.
20.Here In the laboratory Of q
Nobel Prize winner you see q
piece Of dead rabbit muscle
brought back to life"
The strand of muscle lenses.
contracts and performs work
when it is bathed in. q potent
chemical. Then 1t relaxes when
It is touched py . second chem
ical.
This means that man has
solved a few secrets Of how our
muscles work, Of how all living
things manage to create motion.
Is Only the Beginning.
But this seeming miracle in
the laboratory is only q Begin
ming to DR.. Albert q. Scent
Gyorgyi. He wants to know
precisely how chemical from
the food we eat and air we
breathe create motion, "the
most fundamental sign Of life"
Exactly what kind OF engine
is muscle tisslie2 What kind Of
gasoline does it use. and how?
How do different muscles--the
muscles Of the heart, the arms,
or a wofnan's womb -differ in
their mechanism or operation?
That knowledge could aid in
combating heart disease, high
blood pressure, muscular af-
flictions, perhaps reduce the
tragic loss of unborn babies
through miscarriages. ss
On Trail Of Answers.
This Hungarian born scientist
with blue eyes and tousled white
hair, who won a Nobel prize for
his work on Vitamin c, is on the
trail of answers.
And DR.. Scents Gyorgyi is i'm
patient to get along With his
studies-so much SO he's just or
dered a $4,000 scientific instru-
ment, a spectograph, without
enough funds to pay for it.
Maybe I will go to JAIL" he
shrugs, "but I need it in my
work. Somehow ] hope we will
find ways to pay for it"
In Is years Of research on the
muscle engine, DR.. SCENT Gyor-
gyi found that muscles contract
because they contain two spe-
cial proteins, actin and myosin.
When these two come together
in the presence of the energy
supplying engine. ATP. the
muscle contracts.
ATP means adenosine triphos-
phate. It is the gasoline" which
runs the muscle engine. Engines
are accelerators Of chemical re-
actions.
Another Engine Isolated.
DR.. Scent Gyorgyi and DR.. L.
Lorand of Scent Gyorgyi's group
also have isolated another en-
lyme, ATP-CP, which makes a
muscle relax.
From a refrigerator, DR.. Lor-
and took a thin. transparent
strand Of muscle obtained from a
long-dead rabbit, and placed it
in a beaker containing a salt
solution. It lay long and straight.
When a few drops of ATP were
added the string of muscle coiled
and shortened to one-fifth its
original size.
He put another, thicker strand
of muscle in a device so the
muscle remained taut. but could
pull on one end of q delicately
balanced lever. When the muscle
was bathed in ATP it tensed,
pulling measurably on the lever.
When ATP-CP was added, the
muscle relaxed, and the lever
swung back to its original posi-
tion.
$50 now we know that actin
| and myosin come together and
ATP makes the muscle con-
tract" said DR.. Scent Gyorgyi.
But still we are only describing
the machine. We must learn how
the engine is all put together.
then we will know how it work.
Must Study Smaller Pieces.
"Only then can we really
understand the muscle in health
and in disease, and perhaps
learn how to overcome disease.
1--WE must study smaller and
. smaller pieces Of the engine. We
have split one piece, myosin, into
two pieces, and split one Of those
parts into still smaller pieces
hoping to learn how it all works.
The potent eye of the electron
microscope is one aid. showing
! tiny fibers of. which muscles are
made.
The Marine Biological Labora-
tory here, maintained by 40C
scientists over the Nation, has