Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs (March 24, 1819 - March 14, 1885) was a German pathologist who was born in Aurich

Aurich

Aurich is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich.-History:The history of Aurich dates back to the 13th century, when the settlement of Aurechove was mentioned in a Frisian document called the Brokmerbrief in 1276. In 1517, Count Edzard from the house of...

. After earning his medical degree from the University of Göttingen in 1841, he returned to Aurich and spent the next four years there as an optician

Optician

An optician is a person who is trained to fill prescriptions for eye correction in the field of medicine, also known as a dispensing optician or optician, dispensing...

. In 1846 he returned to teach classes at the University of Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

, and afterwards was a professor at the Universities of Kiel

University of Kiel

The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...

 (1850) and Breslau (1852). In 1859 he succeeded Johann Lukas Schönlein

Johann Lukas Schönlein

Johann Lukas Schönlein was a German naturalist, and professor of medicine, born in Bamberg. He studied medicine at Landshut, Jena, Göttingen, and Würzburg...

 as head physician at the Charité

Charité

The Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin is the medical school for both the Humboldt University and the Free University of Berlin. After the merger with their fourth campus in 2003, the Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe....

 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. He remained at the Charité until his death in 1885. Some of his better known assistants and students included Paul Ehrlich

Paul Ehrlich

Paul Ehrlich was a German scientist in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy, and Nobel laureate. He is noted for curing syphilis and for his research in autoimmunity, calling it "horror autotoxicus"...

 (1854-1915), Adolf Weil (1848-1916), Paul Langerhans

Paul Langerhans

Paul Langerhans was a German pathologist, physiologist and biologist.-Eponymous terms:* Islets of Langerhans - Pancreatic cells which produce insulin...

 (1847-1888), Bernhard Naunyn

Bernhard Naunyn

Bernhard Naunyn was German pathologist who was born in Berlin. After receiving his degree at the University of Berlin in 1863, he became an assistant to pathologist Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs...

 (1839-1925), Heinrich Irenaeus Quincke

Heinrich Quincke

Heinrich Irenaeus Quincke was a German internist and surgeon. His main contribution to internal medicine was the introduction of the lumbar puncture for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes...

 (1842-1922), Wilhelm Ebstein

Wilhelm Ebstein

Wilhelm Ebstein was a German physician.He studied medicine at the universities of Breslau and Berlin, graduating from the latter in 1859...

 (1836-1912) and Hugo Rühle

Hugo Rühle

Hugo Ernst Heinrich Rühle was a German physician born in Liegnitz .From 1842 to 1848 he studied medicine in Berlin, where he came under the influence of Rudolf Virchow Benno Reinhardt and Ludwig Traube...

 (1824-1888).

Frerichs made many contributions to medical science, and is especially known for his research of kidney

Kidney

The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...

 and liver

Liver

The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...

 diseases. He published the first German textbook of nephrology

Nephrology

Nephrology is a branch of internal medicine and pediatrics dealing with the study of the function and diseases of the kidney.-Scope of the specialty:...

, and performed microscopic research of Bright's disease

Bright's disease

Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....

. He was the first to identify the three primary stages of Bright's disease and how the condition leads to fibrosis

Fibrosis

Fibrosis is the formation of excess fibrous connective tissue in an organ or tissue in a reparative or reactive process. This is as opposed to formation of fibrous tissue as a normal constituent of an organ or tissue...

 and atrophy

Atrophy

Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations , poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself...

. Frerichs gave the first clinical description of progressive familial hepatolenticular degeneration (now known as Wilson's disease

Wilson's disease

Wilson's disease or hepatolenticular degeneration is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder in which copper accumulates in tissues; this manifests as neurological or psychiatric symptoms and liver disease...

), and also discovered the presence of leucine

Leucine

Leucine is a branched-chain α-amino acid with the chemical formula HO2CCHCH2CH2. Leucine is classified as a hydrophobic amino acid due to its aliphatic isobutyl side chain. It is encoded by six codons and is a major component of the subunits in ferritin, astacin and other 'buffer' proteins...

 and tyrosine

Tyrosine

Tyrosine or 4-hydroxyphenylalanine, is one of the 22 amino acids that are used by cells to synthesize proteins. Its codons are UAC and UAU. It is a non-essential amino acid with a polar side group...

 in urine

Urine

Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...

 involving atrophy of the liver. He also described the anatomical

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 changes that place in liver cirrhosis

Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...

.

Frerichs performed pioneer research of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

, and described nystagmus as a symptom of the disease. He also provided an early clinical description of a link between multiple sclerosis and certain mental disorders.

Written works

• De polyporum structura penitiori. Göttingen, 1843.
• Untersuchungen über Galle in physiologischer und pathologischer Beziehung. Göttingen, 1845.
• Commentatio de natura miasmatis palustris.Habilitation thesis, Göttingen, 1845.
• Über Gallert- und Colloidgeschwülste. 1847.
• Über das Mass des Stoffwechsels, sowie über die Verwendung der Stickstoffhaltigen und stickstoffreien Nahrungsstoffe. Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und wissenschaftliche Medicin, Leipzig, 1849.
• Ueber Hirnsklerose. Archiv für die gesammte Medicin, Jena, 1849, 10: 334-350
• Die Bright’sche Nierenkrankheit und deren Behandlung. Braunschweig, Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, 1851
• Über den Diabetes. Berlin, 1884.

External links

• NCBI Frerichs and Bright's disease
• Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs @ Who Named It
  Who Named It
  Who Named It? is an English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though this is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliographies. It is hosted in Norway and maintained by medical...