Erspamer, Vittorio

Patrizia Campolongo (117), Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Vittorio Erspamer , Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy... 

With these words Vittorio Erspamer depicted the rational basis of the pharmacological research on peptides and proteins of the amphibian skin. This 10-year period of research has shown that amphibian skin, with its generally large peptide content, offers a rich source of secretory peptide compounds, analogues of mammalian neuropeptides and hormones. 

The author is indebted to Vittorio Erspamer, University of Bari, for making available otherwise inaccessible Italian references. 

In 1952 vasodilator substance was discovered in octopods and in a snail by Vittorio Erspamer, at that time professor of pharmacology at the University... 

Vittorio Erspamer, working first for a Milan drug company and then as professor of pharmacology at the University of Rome, screened extracts of the skin of more than 500 European amphibian species for biological activity. In 1971-72 he and his Milan colleagues isolated a tetradecapeptide from the skin of Bombina bombina... 

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