A REVIEW OF EARLY CONCEPTS OF AMYLOID IN CONTEXT WITH CONTEMPORARY CHEMICAL LITERATURE FROM 1839 TO 1859

Abstract

Early concepts of amyloid are reviewed in context with chemical literature from 1839-1859. Cellulose was first described in 1839. Treatment with sulfuric acid converted cellulose into a substance which was colored blue by iodine. This cellulose derivative was called amyloid. Virchow applied the chemical tests for starch and cellulose to human tissues. The substance in waxy degeneration reacted like immature cellulose. Virchow did not coin the term amyloid for this substance but suggested it as a compromise. Virchow restricted the term amyloid to the carbohydrate moiety and explicitly excluded the protein fraction which he had described earlier. Friedreich and Kekulé (1859) studied an evidently impure sample of amyloid and concluded that it did not contain polysaccharides. Since then the protein moiety has been studied extensively, but the carbohydrate fraction has been largely neglected. It appears possible that investigations of the carbohydrates at sites of amyloid formation would aid the understanding of the pathogenesis of amyloidosis2.