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insula Latin, island, islet: small island; named from the fact that insulin is secreted in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas + in a noun ending for organic chemical compoundsIn 1921, four scientists at the University of Toronto, Banting, Best, MacLeod, and Collip, first isolated this pancreatic hormone. That year when they published their research in the American Journal of Physiology (Proceedings of the American Physiology Society, December, 1921) they wrote, "we suggest the name insulin."
Nine years earlier, Sir Edward Schafer, a noted British physiologist, had suggested in print the existence of the chemical and he had named it insulin, from its secretion in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. Even Schafer may have seen a journal article by the French biologist De Meyer who suggested the name insuline in a 1909 publication.
Now, did all these separate instances of the word insulin spring up independently, by the merest scientific serendipity, as the result of simultaneous discovery? The progression of publication dates suggests they did not. And Banting, Best, McLeod, and Collip, worthies all, told a small fib. Although diabetics all over the world are grateful for the discovery of insulin, it was a bit tacky of the Ontario scientists to take another man's verbal invention, and try to fob it off as their own creation. To state coyly "we suggest" was tacky , because it suggests that "we" thought up the name. Tacky yes, but typical of a certain persistent brand of University of Toronto arrogance.
Insulin is a hormone that helps regulate how the body metabolizes carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids; specifically it manages the carrying of the simple body sugar, glucose, to individual cells. Insulin is secreted by glands spread throughout the tissues of the pancreas, and emptied into the bloodstream. These glands are called the islets of Langerhans.
When insulin is low or absent, high blood sugar and diabetes result. Insulin injections are often used to treat diabetes. Too much insulin results in dangerously low blood sugar levels and insulin shock.
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