Johann Conrad Brunner
Encyclopedia
Johann Conrad Brunner was a Swiss anatomist from Diessenhofen
Diessenhofen
Diessenhofen is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:Diessenhofen is first mentioned in 757 as Deozincova. In 2000, the village of Willisdorf was incorporated into the municipality...

. He studied medicine in Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 34,587 ....

, Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

 and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. At Schaffhausen he studied under Johann Jakob Wepfer
Johann Jakob Wepfer
Johann Jakob Wepfer was a Swiss pathologist and pharmacologist who was a native of Schaffhausen. He studied medicine in Strasbourg, Basel and Padua, and in 1647 returned to Schaffhausen to practice medicine. Here he maintained a practice that extended into southern Germany...

 (1620–1695), who was also his father-in-law. Beginning in 1686 he was a professor of anatomy
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...

 and physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

 at the University of Heidelberg.

Brunner is remembered for his experiments and studies of the pancreas
Pancreas
The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as a digestive organ, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that assist...

 and the internal secretions associated with the organ. In 1683 he removed the pancreas from a dog and noticed that the animal experienced extreme thirst and polyuria
Polyuria
Polyuria is a condition usually defined as excessive or abnormally large production or passage of urine . Frequent urination is sometimes included by definition, but is nonetheless usually an accompanying symptom...

. He was however, unable to provide the link between the role of the pancreas and diabetes. He published the findings concerning his pancreatic research in a treatise titled Experimenta Nova circa Pancreas. Accedit diatribe de lympha & genuino pancreatis usu.

in 1687 he described tubuloalveolar glands in the submucous layer of the duodenum
Duodenum
The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In fish, the divisions of the small intestine are not as clear and the terms anterior intestine or proximal intestine may be used instead of duodenum...

, which were later named Brunner's glands
Brunner's glands
Brunner's glands are compound tubular submucosal glands found in that portion of the duodenum which is above the hepatopancreatic sphincter...

. Two disorders associated with these glands are:
  • Brunner's gland hyperplasia
    Hyperplasia
    Hyperplasia means increase in number of cells/proliferation of cells. It may result in the gross enlargement of an organ and the term is sometimes mixed with benign neoplasia/ benign tumor....

    : Hypertrophy of Brunner's glands in the submucosal layer of the duodenum.
  • Brunner's gland adenoma
    Adenoma
    An adenoma is a benign tumor of glandular origin. Adenomas can grow from many organs including the colon, adrenal glands, pituitary gland, thyroid, prostate, etc. Although these growths are benign, over time they may progress to become malignant, at which point they are called adenocarcinomas...

    : Polyp-like tumours arising from Brunner's glands.

Written works

  • Poetum monstrosum et bicipitem, Diss. med. Strassburg 1672
  • De glandulis in duodeno intestino detectis, Heidelberg 1687
  • Experimenta nova circa pancreas; accedit diatriba de lympha et genuina pancreatis usu, Amsterdam 1682, nov ed.: Leyden 1722
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