Axelrod, Julius

Axelrod, Julius, and Robert Tomchick. 1958. "Enzymatic O-Methylation of Epinephrine and Other Catechols." Journal of Biological Chemistry 233 702-5. 

Axelrod, Julius. Neurotransmitters. Scientific American (June 1974) 58-71. 

Axelrod, Julius (1912-2004) U.S. neuropharmacologist who was a member of the research team that discovered the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (noradrenaline). Axelrod was refused entry to several medical schools and decided to study pharmacology. In 1970, he shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Sir Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler. 

The answer is that there are two ways in which neurotransmitter levels might be increased. One is to inhibit their destruction after they have been released into the synaptic gap. That is how MAOIs are supposed to work. Recall, however, that after a neurotransmitter is released, some of its molecules are reabsorbed by the presynaptic neuron that released them in a process that is called reuptake . Blocking this reuptake process should also increase the level of neuro transmitters in the brain. In 1961, Julius Axelrod, who later received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on the release and reuptake of neurotransmitters, reported that imipramine, as well as a few other drugs, inhibited the reuptake of norepinephrine in cats. Two years later he reported that these drugs also inhibited the reuptake of serotonin.13... 

Julius Axelrod, L. G. Whitby and George Hertting, 1961 Julius Axelrod and Joseph K. Inscoe, 1963. 

Julius Axelrod, Bernard Katz, and Ulf von Euler Physiology/Medicine Transmission of nerve impulses, noradrenaline... 

However these inconsistencies were paid little attention. Reuptake was regarded as a major discovery and Julius Axelrod was later awarded... 

Julius Axelrod (USA), Ulf Von Euler (Sweden), Sir Bernard Katz (UK) (Nobel Prize, Medicine, 1979, synaptic neuro transmission, neuro transmitters) Erwin Neher Bert Sakmann (Germany, Nobel Prize, Physiology/ Medicine, 1991, patch-clamping ion channels)... 

Sir Bernard Katz, Ulf Von Euler, Julius Axelrod Humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation... 

In 1973, Solomon Snyder and Candace Pert proved the existence of opiate receptors in the brain. Snyder had been a postgraduate student of Nobel Prize wiimer Julius Axelrod, at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD. Axelrod s research was concerned with the chemical events that occurred in the synaptic deft that coimerts all neurons. 

J. Axelrod. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Profiles in Science The Julius Axelrod Papers. 

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