title: Erich Harnack (1852-1915) and a short history of apomorphine.
abstract: Apomorphine, now established as an efficacious therapy for refractory motor fluctuations in levodopa-treated Parkinson's disease, has a long and chequered history in medical and veterinary therapeutics. The preclinical in vivo pharmacological effects of apomorphine were first studied about 150 years ago following which the drug was introduced for the treatment of behavioural vices in domesticated animals. Erich Harnack's early pharmacological studies in Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia), where he belonged to the pharmacological dynasty of Buchheim and Schmiedeberg, are of particular historical significance as he emphasised that while apomorphine had potent emetic effects, the drug also had complex effects on the central nervous system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. Pille.Taba@kliinikum.ee
authors.forename: Pille
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Taba
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lees
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stern
mesh_terms: D001058:Apomorphine / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D010601:Pharmacology, Clinical / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D001058:Apomorphine