Einar Lundsgaard (12 February 1899 – 18 December 1968) was a Danish professor of physiology at the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University.
...
(1934–1967). He was among the first to demonstrate that muscles contractions drew their energy from
dephosphorylization of creatine
phosphate
Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus.
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...
when
glycolysis
Glycolysis is the metabolic pathway that converts glucose () into pyruvic acid, pyruvate and, in most organisms, occurs in the liquid part of cells (the cytosol). The Thermodynamic free energy, free energy released in this process is used to form ...
was inhibited using iodoacetate.
Life and work
Lundsgaard was born in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
where his father was a physician who came from the Gundelach family of lawyers and civil servants His father received a gold medal for his work on prostatic hypertrophy from the University of Copenhagen. His mother came from the
Salomon family. At school he played guitar as a hobby. In 1917 he completed school and entered medical studies. He completed studies in 1923 and worked at the institute of medical physiology under
Valdemar Henriques. He received a doctorate in 1929. His major finding was on muscle contraction when glycolysis was blocked by mono-iodoacetate. He found that energy was drawn from the phosphate bond energy and he published the findings in 1930. Until then it was believed that glycolysis was the main source of energy. Creatine phosphate was independently identified in muscle by the
Eggletons and by
Cyrus H. Fiske and
Subbarow in 1926. From 1934 he began to work on
phlorizin
Phlorizin is a glucoside of phloretin, a dihydrochalcone. A white solid, samples often appear yellowing to impurities. It is of sweet taste and contains four molecules of water in the crystal. It is poorly soluble in ether and cold water, but ...
and its metabolic effects. This was continued with insulin in studies of
perfused livers. In 1938 he examined the metabolism of alcohol and its conversion to acetic acid by the liver. He received the Thunberg medal in 1960 and the
Anders Jahre prize for 1964.
Herman Kalckar
Herman Moritz Kalckar (26 March 1908 – 17 May 1991) was a Danish biochemist who pioneered the study of cellular respiration. Kalckar made a number of significant contributions to the development of 20th century biochemistry including:
* a founder ...
was among his students.
He retired in 1967 and died from renal cancer the next year.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lundsgaard, Einar
1899 births
1968 deaths
Danish physiologists