Renal Hypertension

Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1946. First edition (stated).

THE DISCOVERY OF ANGIOTENSIN IN ARGENTINA.

15x23 cm hardcover, black pebbled cloth binding, gilt title to spine. Bookplate of Noble S. R. Maluf to front paste-down, i-xxx, frontispiece portrait of Bernardo A. Houssay, 451 pp, 93 figures, bibliography of 1238 references. Scattered pencil notations, binding tight, very good minus in custom archival mylar cover.

EDUARDO BRAUN-MENENDEZ (1903-1959) studied at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, at the Institute of Physiology under the supervision of Noble laureate Dr. Bernardo Houssay. He then joined the prestigious team at the Institute of Physiology, with Luis Federico Leloir, Juan Fasciolo, Juan Muñoz, and Alberto Taquini to explore the mechanism of nephrogenic hypertension. He made the most important discovery in his career during this research: that of angiotensin, in 1939. He directed the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine until 1946 and was also the head of electrocardiography and physiotherapy at the Municipal Institute of Radiology and Physiotherapy of Buenos Aires. He returned as Houssay Chair at the Institute of Physiology in 1955, and was elected to the Buenos Aires National Academy of Medicine and was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of California and the University of Brazil. Eduardo Braun-Menéndez in Argentina and Irvine Page in the United States both led teams of investigators that studied the role of the kidney in blood pressure regulation. Contemporaneously in 1939, each team using different methods discovered and described a new substance now known as angiotensin. At the time of discovery, Page called it "angiotonin" and Braun-Menéndez called it "hipertensina," anglicized to "hypertensin." Over time, the importance of this substance in circulatory control, pathophysiology and pharmacology became indisputable and the need for a single name became obvious. In a collegial accommodation, Page and Braun-Menéndez agreed to a name with elements of both. Braun-Menéndez and Page went on to become leaders in science while angiotensin has played a central role in the understanding and treatment of diseases of the heart, kidney and brain.

PROVENANCE: NOBLE SUYDAM RUSTUM MALUF (1913-2011) was American surgeon. Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, Cornell University, 1936. Doctor of Medicine, Harvard University, 1946. Diplomate American Board Surgery, American Board Urology. Sterling fellow Yale University, New Haven, 1936-1937, Honorary fellow 1937-1939, Johnston Scholar Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1939-1940.