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CRYSTALLINE INSULIN

From the Connaught Laboratories, University of Toronto TORONTO, CANADA

Abstract

SINCE THE FIRST clear demonstration by Banting and Best in 1921 (1) thatthere can be prepared from pancreas an extract which effects carbohydrate metabolism, much interest has centered around the chemistry and the physiological properties of the active principle. Although study of its func tion and mode of action provide fascinating problems, I shall confine my re-marks in the present symposium to the chemistry of this hormone and shall divide my subject matter into two main subdivisions, (a) insulin crystals and methods used to isolate them and (b) the chemistry of crystalline prepara-tions of insulin.

Insulin was first isolated in a crystalline form by Abel in 1926 (2, 3). Thiswas the first instance of a hormone having the properties of a protein being prepared in a crystalline form. For this reason great credit must be given to the late Professor Abel and also to those who were associated with him for their brilliant