Metchnikoff - Nature Of The Human Being

Transcript

1908 Nobel Laureate Ilya Metchnikoff turned his research interest in old age as it affected plants, animals and man. He laid down a theory of the causation of senility, suggesting that macrophages devoured cells in tissues such as the nervous system, muscles, liver and kidney. He noted the accumulation of pigment in degenerating cells of the nervous system. His research into the digestive systems of birds, insects, animals and man led him to study the function of the large intestine. This could produce toxic material which might be absorbed into the system, with ill effects on the rest of the body.