Ulf von Euler

Facts

Ulf von Euler

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Ulf von Euler
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1970

Born: 7 February 1905, Stockholm, Sweden

Died: 9 March 1983, Stockholm, Sweden

Affiliation at the time of the award: Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Prize motivation: “for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation”

Prize share: 1/3

Work

Human and animal nervous systems consist of a large variety of cells with long nerve fibers. Small electrical currents and special chemical substances (neurotransmitters) are passed between cells through contacts (synapses). In 1947 Ulf von Euler discovered the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which plays an important role in producing fight-or-flight signals. He subsequently showed that norepinephrine is formed and stored in packages, or vesicles, sent between neurons via synapses.

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