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Alfred Jost

For the German inventor and entrepreneur, see Alfred Jost (inventor).
Alfred Jost
Born27 July 1916
Strasbourg
Died3 February 1991
NationalityFrench
Known foranti-Müllerian hormone
Scientific career
FieldsEndocrinology
InstitutionsCollège de France

Alfred Jost (1916–1991) was a French endocrinologist, and an early researcher in the field of fetal endocrinology.[1] He is known for his discovery of the Müllerian inhibitor, now called anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) or Müllerian inhibiting substance (MIS).[2] His research demonstrated how hormones affect the development of male and female sex characteristics.[3]

Career

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Jost was a professor at the University of Paris, and was head of the Department of Comparative Physiology there in 1972.[4] Jost was known for applying surgical methods to fetal endocrinology. He also taught many pre-doctoral students.

Research

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During the 1950s and 1960s Jost studied the mechanism of somatic sex differentiation;[5] his research showed that male characteristics must be imposed on the fetus by the testicular hormones testosterone and AMH,[6][5] and that in the absence or inactivity of these hormones, the fetus becomes phenotypically female.[7]

Jost also studied testicular differentiation, in collaboration with Solange Magre. He was the first to show that testicular organization is heralded by the development of pre-Sertoli cells, which progressively surround germ cells to form seminiferous tubules.

Death

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He died February 3, 1991, at age 75,[8] having retired from the Collège de France, but still active as the Secrétaire Perpétuel of the French Academy of Sciences.

References

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  1. ^ Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation. Karger. 1989. p. 168.
  2. ^ Martin Matzuk; Chester W. Brown; T. Rajendra Kumar (15 August 2001). Transgenics in Endocrinology. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 42–. ISBN 978-1-59259-102-2.
  3. ^ Lori Reed (1 February 2012). Governing the Female Body: Gender, Health, and Networks of Power. SUNY Press. pp. 277–. ISBN 978-1-4384-2954-0.
  4. ^ The Johns Hopkins Medical Journal. Johns Hopkins Press. 1972. pp. 37–38.
  5. ^ a b Jill B. Becker (2002). Behavioral Endocrinology. MIT Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-262-52321-9.
  6. ^ Michael Steven Kappy; David B. Allen (M.D.); Mitchell E. Geffner (2005). Principles and Practice of Pediatric Endocrinology. Charles C Thomas Publisher. p. 490. ISBN 978-0-398-07554-5.
  7. ^ Shlomo Melmed; Kenneth S. Polonsky; P. Reed Larsen; Henry Kronenberg (30 November 2015). Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 903. ISBN 978-0-323-29738-7.
  8. ^ C. Wayne Bardin (10 May 2014). Recent Progress in Hormone Research: Proceedings of the 1991 Laurentian Hormone Conference. Elsevier. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4832-1968-4.
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