History of Diabetes Mellitus

Park, Ji Wook

doi:2009.10.3.176

J Korean Diabetes > Volume 10(3); 2009 > Article

Original Article

The Journal of Korean Diabetes 2009;10(3):176-184.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4093/kcd.2009.10.3.176

당뇨병의 역사

박지욱

History of Diabetes Mellitus

Ji Wook Park

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM), considered as a modern disease, has a long history. Mellitus, meaning "honey" in Latin, makes a reference to the sweet taste of the urine, which has been discovered first by the ancient Indians during the early times. Meanwhile, the western medical pioneers confirmed the discovery with their observations of excess urine. Then, beginning with the discovery of glycosuria in 1800s, Langerhans discovered the "islet cells" in 1869 followed by Minkowski team`s discovery that pancreactemized dog develops DM. After the successful thyroid hormonal replacement for myxedema, many medical experts tried to follow the steps, but all failed until 1921; the first complete success was achieved by Banting and McCleod with administration of pure extract of insulin from bovine pancreas. Thereafter, diverse type of insulin preparations were developed steadily to overcome their own flaws and to be acquainted to human`s sugar-controlling physiology. Oral hypoglycemic agents were known incidentally from the side effects of antimicrobial. As far as the solutions are concerned, therapeutical modalities, transplantation, immunotherapy, gene therapy, and more suitable solutions are expected to be noticed and studied in the future. (Korean Clinical Diabetes J 10:176-184, 2009)

Key Words: History of diabetes mellitus, History of insulin, History of oral hypoglycemics