Antihistamines are asked of him: Who is Daniel Bovet?

Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist. He won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on antihistamines and synthetic curare. He was born on March 23, 1907, in Neuchatel, Switzerland. He studied zoology and anatomy at the University of Geneva. He received his doctorate in 1929. In 1937 he entered the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where he directed the laboratory of medicinal chemistry. Bovet, who made his most important work in this institute, developed compounds that were effective against some allergic symptoms in 1937. In 1944, he discovered the first antihistamine, pyrilamine (mepyramine), and in 1947, galanin, was used for muscle relaxation. Bovet, who was invited to Rome to establish a research institute the same year, became an Italian citizen after a while. He received the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1957. In 1964 he became a professor of pharmacology at the University of Sassari.

Daniel Bovet (23 March 1907 – 8 April 1992) was a Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist who won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of drugs that block the actions of specific neurotransmitters. He is best known for his discovery in 1937 of antihistamines, which block the neurotransmitter histamine and are used in allergy medication. 

Bovet's work at the Pasteur Institute begins with his investigations of a substance called sulpha rhizoid (prontosil), which was found to be effective against streptococcal bacteria in the body and was discovered by Domagk in 1935. Although these substances were effective in the body against streptococcus, the fact that they did not give the same result in test tubes led Bovet to the conclusion that sulpha rhizoid had undergone a change in the body and was effective against bacteria in this different form. Based on this determination, Bovet and his colleagues tried to find the "effective" form of the compound by breaking down the molecules of the sulpha rhizoid. As a result of this research, they developed various “sulfa” drugs with antibiotic properties, especially sulfanilamide. Bovet, who is also interested in allergies, discovered pyrilamine (mepyramine), the first of the antihistamines used against histamine produced in the body and causing some allergic conditions.

Another substance Bovet studied is curare, which is found in the roots of various plants growing in South America and was formerly used by the locals in poison arrows. Bovet found that some substances similar to the chemical structure of curare, which can paralyze the muscles and cause death, can be used in an appropriate dose to relax the muscles. Synthetic substances such as curare developed by Bovet, especially galanin and succinylcholine, are used in surgeries with mild anesthesia.

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