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Was citrulline first a laxative substance? The truth about modern citrulline and its isolation

Fragkos, K; Forbess, A; (2011) Was citrulline first a laxative substance? The truth about modern citrulline and its isolation. Nihon ishigaku zasshi / Journal of Japanese history of medicine , 57 (3) 275 - 292. Green open access

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Abstract

Citrulline is a non-protein amino acid and is produced by the enterocytes of the small bowel. The isolation though of citrulline is generally ascribed to the 1930s. In the present article, we demonstrated that before 1930, there is was use of the term citrulline, signifying though a resin produced by Citrullus Colocynthis. This citrulline is different fomr modern citrulline. However, neither was modern citrulline isolated in 1930 but somewhat earlier. Reviewing the original manuscripts, Koga and Ohtake (1914) did indeed isolate citrulline for the first time and at least half a dozen other researchers cite their work. Even though their work didn’t lead to the determination of the structure and nature of citrulline, theirs was the first to isolate it. Our results have a certain historical and scientific significance and are discussed in extent.

Type: Article
Title: Was citrulline first a laxative substance? The truth about modern citrulline and its isolation
Location: Japan
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: http://jsmh.umin.jp/index_e.html
Language: English
Additional information: Full text made available here with permission from publisher
Keywords: Citrulline, History, Watermelon
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1317394
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