Selmar Aschheim (4 October 1878 – 15 February 1965) was a German
gynecologist
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined ...
who was a native resident of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
.
Born into a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family, in 1902 he received a doctorate of medicine in
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
, and later became director of the laboratory of the ''Universitäts-Frauenklinik'' at the Berlin
Charité. In 1930 Aschheim attained the chair of biological research in
gynecology at the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
. In 1933 he fled
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and moved to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, where he worked in medical research at the Hôpital Beaujon.
Aschheim was a specialist concerning gynecological
histology
Histology,
also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vi ...
and
hormone
A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are require ...
research. In 1928 with
endocrinologist
Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...
Bernhard Zondek
Bernhard Zondek ( he, ברנרד צונדק; 29 July 1891 – 8 November 1966) was a German-born Israeli gynecologist who developed the first reliable pregnancy test in 1928.
Biography
Bernhard Zondek was born in Wronke, Germany, now Wronki, Po ...
(1891–1966), he isolated the
gonadotropic
Gonadotropins are glycoprotein hormones secreted by gonadotropic cells of the anterior pituitary of vertebrates. This family includes the mammalian hormones follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), the placental/chorio ...
hormone known as
human chorionic gonadotropin
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone for the maternal recognition of pregnancy produced by trophoblast cells that are surrounding a growing embryo (syncytiotrophoblast initially), which eventually forms the placenta after implantatio ...
(hCG), which was discovered in the
urine
Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra.
Cellular ...
of pregnant women. From their research the
"Aschheim-Zondek test" for
pregnancy
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy usually occur ...
was created, which involved injection of a patient's urine into an immature laboratory mouse.
If the rodent displayed an
estrous
The estrous cycle (, originally ) is the set of recurring physiological changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most mammalian therian females. Estrous cycles start after sexual maturity in females and are interrupted by anestrous p ...
reaction, it represented a positive indication of pregnancy.
The two doctors published the findings of the hormone in a treatise titled ''Das Hormon des Hypophysenvorderlappens''. At the time they believed that the gonadotrophin was produced by the
anterior pituitary, however further research in the 1940s demonstrated that the
placenta
The placenta is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the physically separate mate ...
was responsible for the elaboration of the hormone.
References
External links
Historical perspectives in gonadotrophin therapyby Bruno Lunenfeld
@
Who Named It
''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aschheim, Selmar
1878 births
1965 deaths
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to France
German gynaecologists
University of Freiburg alumni
Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin
Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin
Physicians of the Charité