Historical Tidbit: Louis Théophile Joseph Landouzy (1845-1917) and Opotherapy
Submitted by: Alan D. Rogol, MD, Ph.D
In 1898 Landousy coined the expression opotherapy (from Greek opo(s), juice + treatment), when the substance administered is in the form of an extract to replace absent or insufficient hormone production with organic substances that serve the same purpose, but often without knowledge of the molecular basis [Les Seropathies, Paris 1898, p. 9]. This occurred during the infancy of treatment with thyroid extract (BMJ 1891; 2:796-797) and just after Brown-Séquard (C R Soc Biol (Paris) 1889; 41:415). Treating an organ with itself, whether as an implant, transplant or extract is also known as similia similibus (“like cures like”), although that has been presently co-opted by the practice of homeopathy).