The Early History of the Biochemistry of Muscle Contraction

The experiments in Szeged were published in three volumes as “Studies from the Institute of Medical Chemistry University of Szeged”. While the publisher is given as S. Karger Basel, New York, it is not clear whether the publisher ever proceeded with the publication. Volume I (1941–1942) entitled “Myosin and Muscular Contraction” by I. Banga, T. Erdös, M. Gerendás, W.F.H.M. Mommaerts, F.B. Straub, and A. Szent-Györgyi, edited by A. Szent-Györgyi was sent to press on July 6, 1942, and printed by R. Gergely Budapest. (At this time Hungary was at war with the Allies.) Volume II (1942), no title, edited by A. Szent-Györgyi was sent to press on December 22, 1942, and printed by the Town Printer and Book Publisher KFT of Szeged. Volume III (1943) entitled “Muscular Contraction, Blood Coagulation”, edited by A. Szent-Györgyi was sent to press on December 13, 1943, and printed by the Town Printer and Book Publisher KFT of Szeged. Albert Szent-Györgyi originally planned to publish a fourth volume of the studies. This became impossible because he had to go into hiding from the GESTAPO. He doubted that he would survive the war and while in hiding he wrote up the work he and his collaborators had carried out in Szeged, including his speculations and theories on the biochemistry of muscle contraction. The manuscript entitled “Muscle” was sent to his friend, Hugo Theorell on the August 1, 1944 to be published in Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. Szent-Györgyi had been given Swedish citizenship to protect him from the GESTAPO, The citizenship also qualified him to publish in the Acta. Hugo Theorell, not knowing how to contact Szent-Györgyi, sent a message to the Swedish Legation that the manuscript had been received, having no idea that Szent-Györgyi was sheltering there. He had to be smuggled out from the Legation to escape the rabble organized by the Arrow Cross Party, the Hungarian Nazi party, which broke into the Legation the next day and looted it while looking for him. The long paper was published in 1945 (Szent-Györgyi, 1945).

A detailed compendium of data on all aspects of muscle function available from antiquity until 1970 can be found in the monumental book by Needham (1971), which contains some 2,400 references. The structural studies leading to the sliding filament concept are described by Huxley (1958)(1969). The early history of regulation is discussed by Ebashi and Endo (1968). A more up to date short review on myosin-linked regulation is also available (Szent-Györgyi, 1996).