The War of the Soups and the Sparks tells the engaging story of the dispute between the pharmacologists who uncovered the first evidence that nerves communicate by releasing chemicals and the neurophysiologists who dismissed the proof and remained committed to electrical explanations. At the center of the story are the neuroscientist Otto Loewi and the pharmacologist Henry Dale, who received Nobel Prizes for their work, and the physiologist Walter Cannon, who would have shared the prize if he had not been persuaded to adopt a controversial theory. Expertly researched and recounted, The War of the Soups and the Sparks is the absorbing and enlightening tale of an immensely consequential scientific discovery.

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A great and important story with incredible characters

In this immensely readable book, Elliot Valenstein provides a remarkable account of one of the great scientific discoveries of the 20th century. The discovery of how nerve cells communicate has revolutionized our understanding of the brain. The story behind this momentous discovery is a fascinating one and it includes the joint effort of many remarkable men.

The road to the discovery of neurotransmitters involved the work of many different scientists but three individuals in particular are of vital importance to this story: Henry Dale, Otto Loewi (both pharmacologists) and the great American physiologist, Walter Cannon. The initial insights that nerve communication could be chemically mediated stemmed from the research findings that specific chemical compounds (at that time, these compounds were derived mainly from plant extracts and laboratory synthesis) could mimic the effects of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve innervation. Since it was not known at the time that the chemical compounds in question (such as acetylcholine, epinephrine and norepinephrine) were substances naturally found in the body, nobody had yet speculated that the nerves were actually secreting these mediators. One of the seminal experiments (the inspiration for which apparently originated from a dream) was that of Otto Loewi. Loewi performed a simple experiment on isolated frog hearts - he showed that stimulating the vagus nerve of the first heart led to a substantial decrease of the heart rhythm. Loewi then collected the chemical perfusion collected from this heart and applied it to the second heart (without stimulating the vagus nerve). Remarkably, the mere application of the chemical substance led to a substantial decrease in heart rate. However, far from proving the existence of neurotransmitters, controversy continued to rage at least for another decade. Later, Henry Dale, with the help of Wilhelm Feldberg, had shown that this chemical substance was acetylcholine and moreover that all parasympathetic nerves released this neurotransmitter. At the same time, Walter Cannon was doing work on the sympathetic nervous system and the role of epinephrine and norepinephrine. Dale and Loewi shared the Nobel prize in 1936 for proving that neurotransmitters are involved in the action of the autonomic nervous system on smooth muscles. Walter Cannon came extremely close to sharing the prize - the reason for his ultimate exclusion is just one of the book's interesting stories.

Even after the role of neurotransmitters was accepted for the autonomic nervous system, there was incredible resistance toward extending these findings to the central nervous system. This resistance was in part due to a professional turf war between the pharmacologists and neurophysiologists. The neurophysiologists refused to accept that nerve transmission in the central nervous system could be chemical, reasoning that this was too slow a process. Instead, they maintained that central nervous system synapses were exclusively electrical (thus, the war of the soups and the sparks, referred to in the title). However, the conclusive evidence that spinal motor nerves also secrete chemical substances was provided by John Eccles, one of the leading neurophysiologists who opposed the claims of the pharmacologists.

The last step to be taken was to prove that neurotransmitters played a role in the brain as well as in the spinal cord and the periphery. The resistance to this was immense. However, as evidence steadily accumulated throughout the 1950's, `60's and `70's, it became obvious that the chemical nature of signaling in the nervous system was ubiquitous. Ironically, today we know that electrical synapses do exist (solely in the central nervous system) but they account for only 1% of the synapses and are thought to be involved in actions that require large-scale coordinated outputs (e.g., the escape behaviors of some animals).

The stories in the book are immensely interesting. The scientists involved were remarkable people, with remarkable life stories. Valenstein also explores the ways in which the entire story (which spanned the two World Wars) was shaped by sociopolitical events and how scientific practice is affected by the personality and temperament of its practitioners. This book is highly recommended, especially for those interested in neuroscience, but also for the general reader who enjoys reading about the history of science and ideas.
December 22, 2006

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