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Classical Article
. 2007 Nov;33(11):1967-71.
doi: 10.1007/s00134-007-0788-7. Epub 2007 Jul 28.

The first demonstration of lactic acid in human blood in shock by Johann Joseph Scherer (1814-1869) in January 1843

E J O Kompanje, T C Jansen, B van der Hoven, J Bakker
Classical Article

The first demonstration of lactic acid in human blood in shock by Johann Joseph Scherer (1814-1869) in January 1843

E J O Kompanje et al. Intensive Care Med. 2007 Nov.

Abstract

Lactic acid was first found and described in sour milk by Karl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786) in 1780. The German physician–chemist Johann Joseph Scherer (1841–1869) demonstrated the occurrence of lactic acid in human blood under pathological conditions in 1843 and 1851. In this article we honour the forgotten observations by Scherer and describe the influence of Scherer's finding on further research on lactic acid at the end of the 19th century. We conclude that Scherer's 1843 case reports should be cited as the first description of lactic acid in human blood after death and also as the first demonstration of lactic acid as a pathological finding in septic and haemorrhagic shock. Carl Folwarczny was, in 1858, the first to demonstrate lactic acid in blood in a living patient.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Title page of Scherer's 1843 book
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Johann Joseph Scherer (left) and Rudolf Virchow (right) in 1849
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Scheele KW (1788–1789) Opuscula chemica et physica. Leipzig
    1. Berzelius JJ (1806–1808) Föreläsningar i djurkemien. Stockholm
    1. Berzelius JJ (1808–1818) Lärbok i Kemien. Nordström, Stockholm
    1. None
    2. Von Liebig J (1847) Recherches de chimie animale. C R Hebdom Seances Acad Sci 24:69–73
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'DOI', 'value': '10.1002/prac.18590770138', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://doi.org/10.1002/prac.18590770138'}]}
    2. Du Bois-Reymond EH (1859) Sur la prétendue réaction acide des muscles. J Prakt Chem 77:206–244

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