Secretin, Cholecystokinin and Newer Gastrointestinal Hormones

Abstract

IN 1902, Bayliss and Starling¹ demonstrated that the introduction of hydrochloric acid into a denervated loop of small intestine elicited the brisk secretion of pancreatic juice. The implications of this observation were appreciated immediately, and they suggested that some unidentified, blood-borne "chemical messenger" was released from the acidified intestine to mediate this response. According to Babkin,² the word "hormone" was introduced by Starling on the suggestion of Mr. W.B. Hardy.³ The word is from the Greek, ο͑ρμαω, meaning "I arouse to activity" or "I excite."Although the study of endocrinology may have begun, in one sense, in 1902 with the . . .