Nicolae Paulescu was a Romanian physiologist who discovered insulin in 1916, which he called "pancreine". He isolated the extract from bovine pancreas and found that it lowered blood glucose levels in diabetic dogs. In the early 1920s, he published papers describing his work. Meanwhile, Canadian scientists Banting and Best also discovered insulin and were awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize for its discovery, despite Paulescu discovering it first. Paulescu struggled to purify pancreine while Banting and Best succeeded. Paulescu's work was not fully recognized until later in the 20th century.

1. Nicolae C. Paulescu
1869-1931
Antonia Cornejo
Campos
English Practice I
Universidad de las

2. Who was Nicolae Paulescu?Who was Nicolae Paulescu?
Nicolae was a Romanian physiologist,
professor of medicine, politician, and the
discoverer of insulin, which he called
pancre ine , an extract of
bovine pancreas in salted water, after
which some impurites were removed
with hydrochloric acid and sodium
hydroxide. He was also, with Alexandru
Cuza, co-founder of the National Christian
Union and later, of the National-Christian
Defense League in Romania.

3. The life of Nicolae PaulescuThe life of Nicolae Paulescu
 He was born on October 30,1869 in Bucharest, Romania.
 He learned French, Latin and Ancient Greek at an early age
and as a young student, Paulescu developed an interest in the
arts and in the natural, physical, and chemical sciences.
 In 1888 he went to Paris to study medicine, and three years
later he took a post as a nonresident medical student at the
Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. There he worked with French
physician Étienne Lancereaux, who was the first to suggest
that diabetes mellitus originated in the pancreas, and with
French scientist Albert Dastre, who had studied with Claude
Bernard, the renowned physiologist who discovered the role of

4. In 1901, after having received a degree in medicine (1897) and
doctorates in physiology (1898) and the natural sciences (1899)
from the University of Paris, Paulescu returned to Romania,
where he joined the faculty of medicine at the University of
Bucharest. There he undertook studies in experimental
physiology and in 1903 published with Lancereaux Traité de
Mé de cine , No so lo g ie (“Treaty of Medicine, Nosology”), the first of
a four-volume series on disease and physiology (the other three
volumes were published in 1906, 1912, and 1930). Several years
later, Paulescu published a paper in which he described a new
procedure for the surgical removal of the pituitary gland that

5. Discovering the pancreineDiscovering the pancreine
(insulin)(insulin)
Between 1914 and 1916, Paulescu worked to identify the active
pancreatic substance that the earlier research of German
physiologist and pathologist Oskar Minkowski and German
physician Joseph von Mering had suggested could be used to
treat diabetes. By 1916, Paulescu reportedly had isolated the
substance, which he called “pancrein” (or “pancreine”; now
considered to have been insulin). (Paulescu reported
the discovery himself in a 1921 paper.) After injecting the extract
into the jugular veins of diabetic dogs, he found that the dogs’
abnormally high blood glucose levels were temporarily returned
to normal. Shortly after completing the experiments, he was

6. After World War I, he resumed his research.
From April 24 to June 23 1921, Paulescu published four papers at the
Romanian Section of the Society of Biology in Paris:
The effect of the pancreatic extract injected into a diabetic animal by way
of the blood.
The influence of the time elapsed from the intravenous pancreatic
injection into a diabetic animal.
The effect of the pancreatic extract injected into a normal animal by way
of the blood.
And the last, the most comprehensive report – Researchon theRoleof the
Pancreas inFoodAssimilation – was submitted by Paulescu on June 22 to
the Archive s Inte rnatio nale s de Physio lo g ie in Liège, Belgium, and was

7. In the same year (1921), the Canadian physician Frederick Banting and
medical student Charles H. Best, who had discovered an active
substance in pancreatic extracts, injected the substance into a diabetic
dog and found that it effectively lowered the dog’s blood glucose levels.
While Paulescu struggled and ultimately failed to purify pancreine (he
obtained only a partially purified extract), Banting and Best, working with
Canadian chemist James B. Collip and Scottish physiologist J.J.R.
Macleod, successfully purified their extract. In January 1922, the
Canadian team formally tested the purified substance in a human subject
and immediately thereafter published their findings. In April 10, 1922,
Paulescu applied for a patent on pancreine and its method of
manufacture, and it was awarded by the Minister of Industry and Trade of

8. AND THE NOBEL PRIZE GOES TO…
In 1923 two other scientists were to be recognized as the creators of insulin: doctor
Frederick Grant Banting and biochemist John James Richard Macleod with the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of insulin treatment.
Curiously enough, in 1921 Banting started performing the experiments that led to
the “discovery of insulin” on dogs, inspired by the early works of Polish-German
physician Oscar Minkowski who in 1889 removed the pancreas from a healthy dog
to test its assumed role in digestion.
By the time Banting isolated insulin, Paulescu already held a patent for its
discovery. Moreover, Banting was familiar with Paulescu’s work.
Thinking about other reasons?
Nobel Prize ControversyNobel Prize Controversy

9. He uses Paulescu’s “ResearchontheRoleof thePancreas inFoodAssimilation”
as reference in the paper that brought him the Nobel, although he misquotes:
He state s that inje ctio ns into pe riphe ral ve ins pro duce no e ffe ct and his
e xpe rim e nts sho w that se co nd inje ctio ns do no t pro duce such m arke d e ffe ct
as the first
Banting’s “excuse”:
I re g re t ve ry m uch that the re was an e rro r in o ur translatio n o f Pro fe sso r
Paule scu’s article , Icanno t re co lle ct, afte r this le ng th o f tim e , e xactly what
happe ne d (… ) Ido no t re m e m be r whe the r we re lie d o n o ur o wn po o r Fre nch
o r whe the r we had a translatio n m ade . In any case Iwo uld like to state ho w
so rry Iam fo r this unfo rtunate e rro r (… )

10. Professor Ian Murray was particularly active in working to correct "the
historical wrong" against Paulescu. In an article for a 1971 issue of the
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Murray wrote:
“Insufficie nt re co g nitio n has be e n g ive n to Paule scu, the disting uishe d
Ro m anian scie ntist, who at the tim e whe n the To ro nto te am we re
co m m e ncing the ir re se arch had alre ady succe e de d in e xtracting the
antidiabe tic ho rm o ne o f the pancre as and pro ving its e fficacy in re ducing the
hype rg lyce m ia in diabe tic do g s”.
"In a re ce nt private co m m unicatio n Pro fe sso r Tise lius, he ad o f the No be l
Institute , has e xpre sse d his pe rso nal o pinio n that Paule sco was e q ually
wo rthy o f the award in 1 9 23. "
Recognition after 50Recognition after 50
yearsyears

11.  Paulescu died in 1931 in Bucharest.
 In 1990, he was elected posthumously as member of the Romanian Academy.
 In 1993, the Institute of Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases
in Bucharest was named in his honor (Institutul de Diabet, Nutriţie şi Boli
Metabolice "N. C. Paulescu"). The Institute was renamed on March 3 1993, by
the Ministry of Health Decree no. 273, at the initiative of Prof. Dr. Iulian Mincu.
 Paulescu was also honored on a postage stamp issued by Romania in 1994.
The stamp is one in a set of seven stamps honoring famous Romanians.
 In 2005, the Executive Board of the International Diabetes Federation decided
that “The International Diabetes Federation would not be associated with Nicolae
Paulescu and there would be no Paulescu Lecture at World Diabetes
Congresses should such a request be received".
 In 2002 the Paulescu Institute (a diabetes research institute) was inaugurated,
and a statue of Paulescu was unveiled at the University of Bucharest.
HonorsHonors

13. ConclusionConclusion
Some have wondered why Paulescu did not receive a share of the 1923
Nobel Prize. For that matter, why didn’t Best and Collip get a share? Or the
many others whose work facilitated the discovery of insulin? There is no
clear answer to these questions. All we do know is that the discovery
couldn’t come soon enough and that today, thanks to the work of many
scientists, persons suffering from diabetes are able to live long and
productive lives.

14. QuizQuiz

15. Now lets watch a video…Now lets watch a video…
https://vimeo.com/99779430