How Minkowski and von Mering discovered that the pancreas was involved in diabetes  

Oskar Minkowski and Joseph Freiherr von Mering taught at Strasbourg university. Oskar Minkowski was legendary for his manual dexterity. One day in 1889 he was looking for some journals in the library of another institute when he ran into Joseph Freiherr von Mering. They discussed the role of Lipanin, a commercial preparation of pancreatic enzymes. Minkowski questioned von Mering’s assertion that pancreatic enzymes were needed to break down fatty acids in the gut. The best way of finding out would be to remove the pancreas, but this would pose a real challenge for the surgeon, for Claude Bernard had said that pancreatectomy would be impossible.

That afternoon Minkowski attempted the procedure on several dogs.  A few hours later they noticed that, although the dogs were house trained, they had urinated in their pens and the area was swarming with flies.  Minkowski analysed the urine and found that it contained a high concentration of glucose. In addition, the animals showed an insatiable thirst and a high production of urine.  Later they noted that the dogs were losing weight despite having good appetites.  All of these are symptoms of diabetes.  This lead them to deduce that the pancreas contained some crucial substance for the metabolism of the glucose. Von Mering suggested that the pancreas has two functions, one external – the production of digestive juice, and one internal the production of a substance to regulate glucose.

This was a great experimental breakthrough, due not just to good luck and close observation, but also to the skill of researchers who were performing some of the first successful total pancreatectomies."

Minkowski and von Mering attempted to treat diabetes by injecting dogs with substances extracted from the pancreas but unfortunately they, along with many other scientists, failed.

The European Association for the Study of Diabetes has, since 1966, awarded the Minkowski Prize for outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the field of diabetes mellitus.

In 1910 Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Shaffer suggested that a single substance from the pancreas was responsible for diabetes and coined the word ‘insulin’ for that substance.