Warburg, Otto Heinrich

Japanese: ワールブルク（英語表記）Warburg， Otto Heinrich

Born: October 8, 1883, Freiburg
Died: August 1, 1970. German biochemist in Berlin. He learned physics from his father Emil, a physicist and director of the National Physico-Technical Institute. He studied organic chemistry at the University of Berlin and medicine at the University of Heidelberg as an assistant to R. Clair, receiving his doctorate in 1911. He met O. Mayerhof at the Naples Marine Institute and in 1912 demonstrated that oxygen absorption occurs in a liquid made by crushing cells, which laid the foundation for biochemical research on respiration. After that, he worked for a time on research into redox potential at the University of Berlin, and in 1914 he became a member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biological Research. He studied the role of iron ions in cellular respiration, and proposed the hypothesis of oxygen activation by iron (1921). He tried to prove the existence of respiratory enzymes containing iron, and discovered them (28). It was later discovered that these were the same cytochromes discovered by D. Kaelin. Regarding the mechanism of photosynthesis, he developed a method for measuring the quantum yield, and proposed that four light quanta are required to assimilate one molecule of carbon dioxide (22), and later one, establishing the one-light-quantum theory (50). Today, his theory is not supported, but he is considered to have been a great achievement in that he pioneered the quantitative study of photosynthesis. In 1932, he purified dehydrogenase, which was then called yellow enzyme, and discovered that it contained low-molecular-weight substances in addition to proteins, and succeeded in isolating it (35), naming it triphosphopyridine nucleotide (later renamed nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, NADP). From the 1950s onwards, he studied tumors. He discovered that tumors require less oxygen to grow than normal tissues (56), and proposed a treatment based on this, but it did not become widespread. In 1931, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on cellular respiration. The Warburg manometer he developed is still in wide use today.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

[生]1883.10.8. フライブルク
[没]1970.8.1. ベルリン
ドイツの生化学者。物理学者で国立物理工学研究所所長をつとめた父のエミールに物理学の手ほどきを受け，ベルリン大学で有機化学を，ハイデルベルク大学で R.クレールの助手となって医学を修め，1911年学位取得。ここで O.マイアーホーフと知合ってナポリ海洋研究所で共同研究を行い，12年細胞をすりつぶした液で酸素吸収の起ることを明らかにして，呼吸の生化学的研究に基礎をおいた。その後一時ベルリン大学で酸化還元電位の研究に従事したのち，14年よりカイザー・ウィルヘルム生物研究所所員。細胞呼吸における鉄イオンの働きについて研究し，鉄による酸素活性化説を立て (1921) ，鉄を含む呼吸酵素の存在の証明に努めた末，発見 (28) 。これは D.ケイリンが発見したチトクロムと同一物であることがのちに判明した。光合成の機作に関しても，量子収量の測定法を開発して，1分子の二酸化炭素が植物によって同化されるに必要な光量子の数は4個 (22) ，のちに1個と唱えて一光量子説を立てた (50) 。今日，彼の説は支持されていないが，光合成の定量的研究を創始した点で大きな功績とされる。 32年に，当時黄色酵素と呼ばれていた脱水素酵素を精製，蛋白質のほかに低分子物質が含まれていることを認め，単離に成功 (35) ，トリホスホピリジンヌクレオチドと命名 (後年，ニコチン酸アミドアデニンジヌクレオチドリン酸 NADPと改称) 。 50年代以降は，腫瘍を研究。正常組織に比べて腫瘍の増殖には少い酸素ですむことを解明 (56) ，それに基づく治療法を提案したが，普及はしなかった。 31年に細胞呼吸の研究によりノーベル生理学・医学賞を受賞。彼が開発したワールブルク検圧計はいまなお広く使われている。

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