{"id":27404,"date":"2012-05-20T10:06:38","date_gmt":"2012-05-20T14:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=27404"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:46:37","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:46:37","slug":"the-dog-behind-banting-and-best-marjorie-my-diabetes-heroine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=27404","title":{"rendered":"The Dog Behind Banting and Best: Marjorie, My Diabetes Heroine"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s the last day of Diabetes Blog Week<\/a>. \u00a0Thank you, Karen Graffeo<\/a>, for making this happen. \u00a0I’ve enjoyed writing my posts and I’ve really enjoyed reading others. \u00a0Today’s topic is “diabetes hero.” \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Banting, right, and Best, left, with one of the diabetic dogs used in experiments with insulin. Credits: University of Toronto Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m on the edge of my seat as I type this post. \u00a0There’s no idiom intended in the preceding sentence. \u00a0I am actually sitting on the edge of my seat because my black cat is taking up most of the chair. \u00a0I could push her off, I know, but as uncomfortable as she’s making me, I like having her here nudging at my back with her velvety little nose. \u00a0My gray cat is on the desk, just to my right. \u00a0A few feet away my 120 pound dog is snoring. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I have always been an animal lover. \u00a0I was born into a home with a dog named George. \u00a0As a young child, I dreamed of having a horse. \u00a0When I finally accepted that my father was never going to bring a pet horse into our three bedroom suburban home and let me ride it to school, my passion spilled over into the world of cats. \u00a0I was seven-years-old, in an exceedingly miserable family situation, and I wanted a cat. \u00a0I needed a cat. \u00a0I had a therapist at the time, and she understood this. \u00a0For my eighth birthday my father gave her permission to take me to a pet store to buy a cat. \u00a0I don’t recall what sort of selection of cats there was in the pet store. \u00a0I went straight for the cross-eyed white cat. \u00a0I named her Snow.<\/p>\n

Despite her chronic diarrhea, Snow was a lovely cat. \u00a0Shortly after I got Snow my brother wanted a cat, too. \u00a0He got an orange tabby and we named him Ricky, after Ricky Schroder. \u00a0Ricky got diabetes and required insulin injections, but that story is for another post. \u00a0Today’s post is about the very first diabetic being to survive with insulin injections, Marjorie the dog.<\/p>\n

I don’t know very much about Marjorie, only that she and other dogs were crucial in Frederick Banting’s and Charles Best’s experiments which led to the discovery of \u00a0insulin. And apparently, after having her pancreas removed, Marjorie lived for 70 days with insulin injections. I haven’t done a lot of research on this subject, partly because I just started to think about this yesterday, and partly because I don’t want to know too much about any animal suffering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from an article in\u00a0Harvard Magazine<\/a>\u00a0that begins with Marjorie’s story:<\/p>\n

“During the first week in the laboratory, Banting and his assistant, Charles Best, operated on 10 dogs; all 10 died. Finally, in 1921, after months of experimentation, Banting and his colleagues isolated a material that kept a depancreatized dog named Marjorie alive for about 70 days. Exactly what information was gained from using dogs, and how many dogs were absolutely needed, is not clear. Work previous to Banting and Best’s, some of it in humans, had indicated the presence and importance of a hormone involved in glucose transport. Many more experienced scientists in the diabetes-research community believed that Marjorie had never been fully depancreatized, and thus may have never been diabetic. More likely, they said, the dog died of infection caused by her pancreatectomy. It’s possible that even the death of the famous Marjorie was unnecessary for the great discovery.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the two Toronto researchers had isolated insulin, providing the first step toward producing it from pig and cow pancreas, available in bulk from slaughterhouses. The result–that Banting and Best “saw insulin”–appears to have justified all sacrifices. What’s the life of a dog, 10 dogs, a hundred? Before Banting and Best operated on dogs, we had no insulin; afterwards, we did.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t mean to enter into a debate here about animal research. \u00a0I simply want to acknowledge Marjorie (or Alpha, as one site <\/a>calls her) and all of the other dogs who were sacrificed in order to discover insulin. \u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Sweet dogs, you are heroes and you have my endless gratitude. \u00a0Banting and Best got all of the credit, but you deserve a fair share, too.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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