Toshio Narahashi (January 30, 1927 – April 21, 2013) was an internationally known pharmacologist. He was the John Evans Professor of Pharmacology and former chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Northwestern University

Feinberg School of Medicine The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, formerly Northwestern Medical School from 1906 to 2002, is the medical school of Northwestern University and is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in ...

, where he served on the faculty from 1977 to 2013. Prior, he was vice chairman of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, where he served on the faculty from 1962 to 1977. He is considered by many to be the "founding father of neurotoxicology" and is credited with discovering how

tetrodotoxin Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin. Its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, an Order (biology), order that includes Tetraodontidae, pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish; several of these species carry the toxin. Alt ...

, the poison in puffer fish, immobilizes parts of the nervous system. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Narahashi received an undergraduate degree in agriculture from the University of Tokyo in 1948. According to the Chicago Tribune, "He began his career studying insecticides in an entomology lab. His findings in the lab helped form the basis of 26 published papers and a doctorate in neurotoxicology that he would earn in 1960 from the University of Tokyo." He came to the U.S. in 1961 and quickly found work as a postdoctoral researcher at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

before joining the faculty at Duke University. Narahashi's seminal discoveries are: * Ion channels as a basis for insecticidal actions * Nerve sensitivity as a basis for the negative temperature dependence of insecticidal action of

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

* Nerve sensitivity as a major mechanism explaining insecticide resistance leading eventually to the current concept of kdr and super-kdr * Tetrodotoxin (TTX), the puffer fish poison, blocks sodium channels selectively and potently Narahashi received numerous awards during his career, including: * Society Award from the Society of Entomology and Zoology (1955) * Cole Award from the Biophysical Society * Javets Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health (1986–1993) * Burdick & Jackson International Award from the American Chemical Society (1989) * Merit Award from the Society of Toxicology (1991) * Otto Krayer Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (2000) * First Distinguished Investigator Lifetime Achievement Award in Neurotoxicology from the Society of Toxicology Neurotoxicology Specialty Section (2001) * Honorary Member of the Japanese Pharmacology Society (2002) * Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award from the Society of Toxicology (2008)

References

Chicago Tribune

Duke University Today

Society of Toxicology

ASPET website: Toshio Narahashi (1927 – 2013), founding father of neurotoxicology...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narahashi, Toshio 1927 births 2013 deaths People from Tokyo American pharmacologists Northwestern University faculty Duke University faculty Japanese emigrants to the United States University of Tokyo alumni University of Chicago staff