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Half a Century of Stress Research: a Tribute to Hans Selye by His Students and Associates*

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Half a Century of Stress Research: a Tribute to Hans Selye by His Students and Associates* EXPERIENTIA Volume 41/No. 5 Pages 55%700 15 May 1985 Reviews Half a century of stress research: a tribute to Hans Selye by his students and associates* Hans Selye died in 1982 in Montreal, Canada, at the age of 75. A native of Austria and Hungary, he did a fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, then went to McGill University for more than a decade of research and subsequently he founded the Institute of Experimental Medicine and Surgery at the University of Montreal in 1945. He remained at the Institute until his forced retirement one year prior to his death. Towards the end of his career he established the International Institute of Stress where he was active virtually until the last few weeks of his life. By his own account, his ideas and early experiments substantially preceded the historical short report on 'A syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents' published in the 4 July 1936 issue of'Nature'. Hence, it is appropriate to label his efforts as a half a century quest for the characterization and elucidation of biologic stress. On the first anniversary of Dr Selye's death his former students and coworkers gathered in Montreal to commemorate the scientific achievements that can be associated with Dr Selye's institute. The program of this two-day Symposium Hans Selye consisted of historical interludes and brief reviews on ongoing research by those who are still active in investigative work. Two special lectures were presented by Dr Julius Axelrod of the National Institutes of Health and Dr Judah Folkman of Harvard Medical School. Both of these prominent scientists knew Dr Selye quite well personally and they contributed significantly to the success of the symposium. The organizing committee of the symposium consisted of Drs Andr6 Robert, Sandor Szabo and Yvette Tach6. The present tribute consists of a few historical reviews by graduates of Dr Selye's institute and a series of brief scientific overviews by his former students and associates. The breadth and diversity of these presentations also illustrate the wide scientific basis of research related to biologic stress as well as the flexibility guaranteed by training in Dr Selye's famous institute. Contents Historical retrospect Guillemin, R., A personal reminiscence of Hans Selye 560 Fortier, C., Selye: a giant of biotogy 561 Gabbiani, G., On the stress of working with Dr Selye 562 Robert, A., My years with Selye 563 Szabo, S., The creative and productive life of Hans Selye: a review of his major scientific discoveries 564 Tach6, Y., A tribute to the pioneering contributions of Hans Selye: an appraisal through his books 567 Scientific prospect Cell physiology Japund~i6, I., Garovi6, V., and Japund~i6, M., Protein phosphatases from the cytosolic compartment of human erythrocytes 569 Salas-Prato, M., Tanguay, J. F., Grotendorst, G. R., Barnes, D., and Samuel, G. O., Cultures of fetal human liver cells in hormone-supplemented serum-free medium 569 Gabbiani, G., Kocher, O., and Bloom, W. S., The cytoskeleton of vascular smooth muscle cells in vivo and in vitro 569 Jean, P., Messier, P.-E., and Richer, C.-L., Nucleolar organizer of disorganized nucleolus 569 Richer, C.-L., Drouin, R., Murer-Orlando, M., and Jean, P., High-resolution analysis of human prophase chromosomes with R-band staining 570 Senecal, J. L., Oliver, J. M., and Rothfield, N. F., Autoantibodies to cyto-skeletal structures in connective tissue disease (CTD) 570 * Reprints of the reviewin its entiretyare available fromDr. S. Szabo, Department of Pathology,Brigham and Women'sHospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston (MA 02115, USA) 560 Experientia 41 (1985), Birkh~iuser Verlag, CH~4010 Basel/Switzerland Endocrinology Horvath, E., Adenohypophysial hyperplasia 570 Japund~i6, M., La6kovi6, V., and Japund~i6, I., Cytogenetical evidence of the neuroectodermal origin of the pituitary gland 570 Kovacs, K., Pathology of prolactin-producing pituitary adenomas 571 Pasqualini, C.D., and Lanari, C., Antitumoral effect of progesterone in the mouse 571 Timiras, P. S., The general adaptation syndrome and neuroendoctine regulation of the lifespan 571 Berczi, I., and Nagy, E., Immunoregulatory aspects of pituitary function 571 Cardiology Cantin, M., and Genest, J., The heart as an endocrine organ: cardioregulins 572 Renaud, S., Morazain, R., Dumont, E., Godsey, F., Thevenon, C., and Largarde, M., Functions and composition of blood platelets in relation to risk factors for coronary heart disease 572 Rojo-Ortega, J. M., Fueyo, A., Martinez, M., and Matin, B., Right ventticular infarction in experimental malignant hypertension 572 Jasmin, G., and Proschek, L., The prevention by fl-adrenoagonists of the hamster hereditary cardiomyopathy 573 Vaw J., Our experiences with several months survival of calves with total artificial hearts 573 Stress and stress-related diseases Pasqualini, R. Q., Stress today 573 Rosch, P.J., Stress and cancer 574 Collu, R., Gibb, E., and Ducharme, J. R., Effects of stress on testicular function 574 Tach6, Y., Central nervous system regulation of gastric secretion and stress ulceration by neuropeptides 574 Robert, A., Cytoprotection by prostaglandins 574 Szabo, S., Pathogenesis of duodenal ulceration: lessons from animal models 574 Pharmacology and toxicology Werringloer, J., The control of the catalytic cycle of liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 575 T6th, S., Effects of spironolactone and phenobarbital on plasma fibrinogen in rats 575 Bert6k, L., Lead acetate-induced endotoxin-hypersensitivity 575 Lfizfir, G., and Husztik, E., Functional consequences of the reticuloendothelial blockade induced by gadolinium chloride 576 Garg, B. D., Morphological studies of diesel particulate clearance from rat lungs 576 Miscellaneous Adamkiewicz, V. W., and Pilon, D. R., Magnetic stimulation of polymer accumulation in bacterial cultures 576 Lefebvre, F., and Veilleux, A., Survival and long-term sequelae in very low birth weight infants 576 Constantinides, P., Role of tocopherol in carcinogenesis 577 Orvoine, R. H., Osmotically-induced oncolysis 577 Hay, E. C., Records and research 577 Rohan, P., The 'G-G' test 577 Acknowledgments 578 A personal reminiscence of Hans Selye* by R. Guillemin Laboratories for Neuroendocrinology, Salk Institute, La Jolla (CA 92138-9216, USA) I first met Hans Selye in the spring of 1948 when he came the annual symposium covering, over the years, the hot- to Paris to lecture, in French, at the old hospital of La test topics of medicine at that particular time. I think it Piti6. Since the early 1920s La Piti6 had been the seat of was the first year when the symposium resumed, having been interrupted per force during the somber years of the * Reproduced with permission from Laboratory Investigation 48 (1984) Second World War. Selye gave several lectures to a 367-368. packed auditorium on his general adaptation syndrome Experientia 41 (1985), Birkh/iuser Verlag, CH-4010 Basel/Switzerland 561 and his concept of the diseases of adaptation. The mag- eventually end up in the 'autopsy room'. There, the tech- netism of the man was extraordinary. Selye was then in nicians would have prepared on the horseshoe table 80 his mid-forties, a superb lecturer, obviously at ease with rats, in 10 groups of eight, which had received various the subject that he knew well, since he had created it de treatments. Selye, in the center of the horseshoe table toutes pi6ces, and about which he spoke with passion. (and of everybody's attention), would open up the belly Selye was then at the peak of his reputation and influence of each animal and make comments about the lesions and in modern medicine. The concept that stress, or rather an the rationale of the experiments, would discuss the con- overreaction by the pituitary-adrenal system to the stress clusions and implications, and would decide what would of modern life and environment, could be considered as be the next steps. One of the recurring questions was that the cause of many of the diseases for which we had no of the nature of the hypothalamic neurohumor(s) that specific causative agent, such as rheumatoid arthritis, would trigger the pituitary to secrete ACTH in response hypertension, myocardial infarctions, and strokes, as to stress and, in response to other exteroceptive stimuli, presented by Selye was terribly appealing. What was such as cold, to secrete TSH. That question was not really exciting was that Setye presented experimental rep- answered until many years later. licates of the clinical diseases and lesions by injecting This purely descriptive type of experimental medicine, in laboratory animals with large doses of the adrenal ste- a classical approach to endocrinology, with removal of roid, desoxycorticosterone, or crude extracts of lyophi- one endocrine gland or another, replacement therapy, lized pituitary gland. If, on top of that, the animals had combination of treatments, etc., was in the grand tradi- one kidney removed surgically and were given 1% NaC1 tion of the European experimental and clinical medicine as drinking fluid then, after a few weeks administration of the first half of the century. What was so appealing of the steroid or of the crude pituitary extracts, the rats about it was its intellectual simplicity and the fact that it would become hypertensive and show 'Aschoff's no- addressed itself to sociologically important diseases, dules' in the myocardium, typical lesions of periarteritis which were apparently reproduced in the laboratory with nodosa in the vessels of mesentery, brain hemorrhages, great ease. Few, if not none at all,
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