Frederic Bartter
Encyclopedia
Frederic Crosby Bartter was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 endocrinologist
Endocrinology
Endocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation and the coordination of...

 best known for his work on hormones affecting the kidney
Kidney
The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...

 and his discovery of syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone‎ and Bartter syndrome
Bartter syndrome
Bartter syndrome is a rare inherited defect in the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle. It is characterized by low potassium levels , increased blood pH , and normal to low blood pressure. There are two types of Bartter syndrome: neonatal and classic...

. He had a separate interest in mushroom poisoning
Mushroom poisoning
Mushroom poisoning refers to harmful effects from ingestion of toxic substances present in a mushroom. These symptoms can vary from slight gastrointestinal discomfort to death. The toxins present are secondary metabolites produced in specific biochemical pathways in the fungal cells...

.

Early life

He was born to an English Anglican minister and his American wife in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and grew up in the mountain village of Baguio. At the age of 13 he was sent, together with his brother, to attend the Lenox School
The Birch Wathen Lenox School
The Birch Wathen Lenox School is a New York City college preparatory K-12 school on New York City's Upper East Side of Manhattan. BWL comprises approximately 500 students from all around New York City...

 until 1930. After teaching in the Philippines for a year, he enrolled at Harvard
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 where he obtained a BA in 1935. After a year at Harvard School of Public Health
Harvard School of Public Health
The Harvard School of Public Health is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill, which is next to Harvard Medical School. HSPH is considered a significant school focusing on health in the...

 he entered Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....

, graduating there in 1940. Internships took place at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1941 and 1942. Army service led to academic work on blood products
Blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...

 and onchocerciasis
Onchocerciasis
Onchocerciasis , also known as river blindness and Robles' disease, is a parasitic disease caused by infection by Onchocerca volvulus, a nematode . Onchocerciasis is the world's second-leading infectious cause of blindness. It is not the nematode, but its endosymbiont, Wolbachia pipientis, that...

 (river blindness, a tropical disease).

Boston

He became a research fellow to Fuller Albright at Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...

 in 1946, and joined the clinical staff in 1950. Albright influenced Bartter significantly in several ways: research was mainly conducted on patients, who were observed very closely for long periods of time, and his interests encompassed many fields. Particular interests were calcium metabolism
Calcium metabolism
Calcium metabolism or calcium homeostasis is the mechanism by which the body maintains adequate calcium levels. Derangements of this mechanism lead to hypercalcemia or hypocalcemia, both of which can have important consequences for health....

, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis , also known as thelimbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and, occasionally, as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-gonadotropic axis, is a complex set of direct influences and feedback interactions among the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland ,...

, blood volume and electrolyte
Electrolyte
In chemistry, an electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive. The most typical electrolyte is an ionic solution, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible....

 physiology, and the actions of sex steroid
Sex steroid
Sex steroids, also known as gonadal steroids, are steroid hormones that interact with vertebrate androgen or estrogen receptors. Their effects are mediated by slow genomic mechanisms through nuclear receptors as well as by fast nongenomic mechanisms through membrane-associated receptors and...

s. Significant observations were made in congenital adrenal hyperplasia
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia refers to any of several autosomal recessive diseases resulting from mutations of genes for enzymes mediating the biochemical steps of production of cortisol from cholesterol by the adrenal glands ....

.

Bethesda

Bartter assumed a research post at the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

 in 1951. Much of his work here was on aldosterone
Aldosterone
Aldosterone is a hormone that increases the reabsorption of sodium ions and water and the release of potassium in the collecting ducts and distal convoluted tubule of the kidneys' functional unit, the nephron. This increases blood volume and, therefore, increases blood pressure. Drugs that...

 and its effects on the cardiovascular system. He collaborated with numerous researchers, including Grant Liddle (eponymised in Liddle's syndrome
Liddle's Syndrome
Liddle's syndrome, also called Liddle syndrome and pseudoaldosteronism, is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by early, and frequently severe, hypertension associated with low plasma renin activity, metabolic alkalosis due to hypokalemia, and hypoaldosteronism...

). Investigations in 1957 led to the recognition of SIADH, and his work on aldosterone and the kidney handling of electrolytes led to his description in 1963 of the syndrome that would later bear his name - Bartter syndrome
Bartter syndrome
Bartter syndrome is a rare inherited defect in the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle. It is characterized by low potassium levels , increased blood pH , and normal to low blood pressure. There are two types of Bartter syndrome: neonatal and classic...

.

Texas

In 1978 he moved again, this time to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

. Here he continued his work on hypertension
Hypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...

 (high blood pressure) started at Bethesda, and his own hypertension was discovered during the research.

He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

 in 1979, already having received honours by the American Society for Clinical Investigation
American Society for Clinical Investigation
The American Society for Clinical Investigation, or ASCI, established in 1908, is one of the nation's oldest and most respected medical honor societies.-Organization and Purpose:...

, the Endocrine Society, and numerous other bodies. He collapsed suddenly due to a cerebral hemorrhage at an NAS conference, and died soon afterwards. He was married to Jane Lillard and left three children, two sons and a daughter.

External links

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