The Pioneer Neuropharmacologist Alfred Fröhlich (1871–1953) and the Origins of Neuroendocrinology: A Sesquicentennial Remembrance

The birth of neuroendocrinology as a scientific discipline is traced back to 1900–1901, when Joseph Babinski, Alfred Fröhlich, and Harvey Cushing independently identified adiposogenital dystrophy (Fröhlich syndrome), and related gonadal underdevelopment and obesity to a tumor near the pituitary gland. This discovery prompted decades of research into the brain mechanisms responsible for the control of peripheral metabolism and endocrine functions. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Fröhlich’s birth, this study traces the origins of his intellectual formation and his association with renowned contemporaries in Austria, England, Italy, and finally Cincinnati, Ohio, where he sought refuge after Austria’s annexation by Nazi Germany. Fröhlich interacted with seminal figures in biomedicine, including Lothar von Frankl-Hochwart, Hans Horst Meyer, Ernst Peter Pick, Harvey Cushing, John Newport Langley, and the Nobel laureates Charles Scott Sherrington and Otto Loewi. Alfred Fröhlich, one of the 20th century’s most emblematic physicians, left his mark on neurophysiology and neuropharmacology with important works, and published authoritative manuals of drug dispensing and clinical therapy. He confronted the calamities of two World Wars with remarkable resilience like many of his Viennese colleagues who, overcoming the constraints of National Socialism, settled overseas to fulfil their calling as physicians, researchers, and teachers.

METOPIRONE TEST IN OVERWEIGHT SUBJECTS

ABSTRACT The metopirone test was performed in 54 subjects: 49 overweight subjects and 5 controls. While normal in some of these, the test showed a poor reaction in a group of 14 overweight children, 12 of them being boys with a gynoid type of obesity. It is suggested that the poor reaction to metopirone possibly represents only one aspect of reduced pituitary functional state – including gonadotrophins – and, if confirmed, these findings may support the concept of a functional Babinski-Fröhlich syndrome.