The doctor who implanted monkey testicles in humans to make them live to the age of 100
His story sounds like that of 'another mad scientist from the history books', but Dr. Henry Jones' surgeries actually yielded some important insights into tissue and blood type matching, which are still relevant today in surgeries and transplants.
Strider Schleider Putschnik
25/11/2021
Thursday, 25 November 2021, 20:06 Updated: 20:07
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Dr. Henry Layton-Jones began his career as a pharmacist in Sydney, Australia. But within a few years he made a professional transition (including a dental station on the way) and relocation to Lake McCurry (another city in Australia) with a specialization in a very specific field - testicular transplantation human primates in order to make them live to 100. not difficult to understand, then, why his nickname was' monkey Jones.
sounds like another story about a mad scientist who lived during the past, and there is some truth - the methods of monkey Jones However, the scientific and ethical standards of medicine today would not be met. However controversial as it may be, his medical approach nevertheless yielded some important insights in the areas of tissue classification and gland transplantation and surgery. And are still in use today.
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To the full article
"He developed an obsession with treating people who were considered to be hormonally deficient, and people who became senile or had impotence at a relatively young age," read an article published in 1977 in a medical journal in Australia about Dr. Layton-Jones' contribution to the gland transplant. "Between 1931 and 1941 he performed 4 thyroid transplants ... one of which was considered very successful, at least temporarily.
He also performed half a dozen ovarian transplants - in one he used ovaries he took from a pregnant cashier, and about thirty testicular transplants were performed on patients aged 24-72. "
After returning from advanced training in Paris, he built a monkey cage in the yard.
Home of Dr. Henry Layton-Jones Blake McCurry, Australia (Photo: Creative Commons, JAYNE, MR EDDIE)
Unlike some other physicians who have appeared in this section in the past, Dr. Jones strongly believed in a handsome demanding bearer and tried his own theories on himself as well. Voronoff. In fact, Dr. Jones taught himself French so that he could read Warnoff's writings and research, which preceded him in the field of gland transplant research. , Testicles and thyroid gland taken from monkeys, cattle, goats and sheep.
At this point it is worth wondering - what about testicles and longevity?
Can monkey testicular transplantation really affect a person's life expectancy?
And more for the better ??
Jones and Warnoff's studies have launched a field of medicine called endocrinology - which focuses on hormones and related diseases.
Warnoff believed that aging processes are the result of a decrease in endocrine secretions, especially of sex hormones.
Its goal was to "rejuvenate" human patients by amplifying or supplementing their endocrine secretions - and this is where organs and gonads of other species come into play.
Searched testicles and found love
Monkey Jones packed up his belongings and went to study with Warnoff in Paris, where he assisted him with several transplant surgeries and also found love - after marrying Warnoff's secretary, he returned with her to his home in Blake McCurry, Australia. Jones wasted no time and upon his return built a cage for monkeys in his house, which he housed in carefully selected macaque monkeys. He achieved the monkeys thanks to friendships he forged in Singapore with the Sultan of Johor (a country in Malaysia).
In order to have enough time to make the blood type adjustments between donor and transplant recipient, Dr. Layton Jones instructed his patients to adhere to a healthy diet, exercise and alcohol avoidance for the two weeks prior to transplantation. Sometimes they underwent the procedure under local anesthesia only (imagine being awake while a monkey's testicles are being implanted. What a trip).
Monkey Jones nurtured a friendship with the Sultan of Johor who provided him with monkeys.
Rocus macaque monkey (Photo: ShutterStock)
At some point there was a delay in the supply of the monkeys to Jones' clinic, and stopping the surgeries gave him the leisure and time to reflect on his methods as well as to put his findings and research in writing in a professional article.
The article was accepted and was scheduled to be presented at a conference of Newcastle Hospital graduates, but Dr. Layton Jones, who was then almost 75 years old, did not make it to the paper, and he died of a heart attack before presenting his findings in a medical forum and gaining recognition from colleagues.
The code for the files and all the medical information he kept went with him to the grave.
Old medical records (Photo: ShutterStock)
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Layton-Jones kept his patients' medical records and records flawless, and according to reports about him, he devoted much effort to making sure his patients were up to date with all the medical information in their case as well as maintaining their privacy. To that end, he instituted a kind of code that maintained the identity of patients in his medical records. Unfortunately the key to deciphering this code was not found after his death, and apparently went with Layton-Jones to the grave. He also left an explicit instruction to his wife that in case she died prematurely, she should destroy his medical documents, and she obeyed.
For these two reasons very little information remains about Dr. Layton-Jones' extensive work, although he is mentioned in some publications as a "pioneer in his field." - The same Rh protein found in the blood a few years before Carl Landsteiner and Alexander Wiener in 1941 received the official credit for this discovery, but there is no conclusive evidence for this.
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