engleski

How the sphingoid long– chain base research started in Croatia

The beginnings of the sphingolipid research in Croatia are briefly presented. An account is given of the contribution made by Academician Mihovil Proštenik to the mosaic founded by Thudicum in 1874 (1). In his books published by Matica hrvatska, Fran Bubanović, first head of the Department of Chemistry, School of Medicine in Zagreb, described sphingosine, a cerebral substance, a compound of mysterious structure and properties. His ideas must have stimulated young assistant Mihovil Proštenik to tackle this enigmatic area and to pursue it for life. Making use of the experience acquired during his stay at V. Prelog (Zürich, Switzerland) and H.E. Carter (Urbana, Illinois, USA), he developed his "lipid school" at the Zagreb School of Medicine. During three decades he published over 100 original scientific papers, mostly in the leading international journals. For all these years, sphingolipids have been named so with full right (sphinx-like) because of their mysterious properties. For quite a long time, chemical studies failed to follow the knowledge about their roles, however, the research conducted in the last two decades has contributed to unveiling this group of compounds, associating them with the transfer of signals modulating cell growth, differentiation, an array of cell functions, and programmed cell death. Systematic collection of new scientific data on the sphingolipid chemistry, with the huge contribution bequeathed to us by Academician Mihovil Proštenik, conditions have been created to explain the manifold role of this group of compounds widely spread in living organisms.

sphingolipids

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