Hilda Margaret Bruce

Hilda Bruce

Hilda Bruce (1903-1974)
Born (1903-04-05)5 April 1903
Died 11 February 1974(1974-02-11) (aged 70)
Residence England
Nationality British
Fields Zoologist
Institutions National Institute for Medical Research
Pharmaceutical Society
Alma mater King's College for Women
Known for Discovering the Bruce effect

Hilda Margaret Bruce (5 April 1903 2 November 1974) was a British zoologist, best known for her discovery of the Bruce effect, a pheromonal behaviour observed in many rodent species. Her work on the control of fertility earned her the Oliver Bird Medal.[1]

Biography

Hilda Bruce was born on 5 April 1903. She was educated at St Leonards School.[2] In 1923, she began her tertiary studies at King's College for Women, where she received a B.Sc. in Household and Social Science, and another in Physiology.[2] In 1928, Bruce joined the National Institute for Medical Research at Mount Vernon, Hampstead.[1] Her early research was dedicated towards the understanding of Vitamin D; she also jointly published the first article describing the breeding characteristics of the golden hamster.[3] In 1933, Bruce was employed by the Pharmaceutical Society, where she continued her research on Vitamin D.[1][2] In 1941, she was appointed to set up the Cod Liver Oil (Poultry) Standardisation Laboratory. In 1944, she returned to the NIMR, where she formulated specialised diets for laboratory animals.[1][2]

From the early 1950s, Bruce turned her attentions towards sexual behaviour in rodents, particularly the Whitten effect.[1] In 1959, she published her discovery of what is now called the Bruce effect, the termination of pregnancy following exposure to the scent of an unfamiliar male.[4] Bruce retired from the NIMR in 1963, but continued part-time research, variously on nutrients, development and pheromones, at the Department of Investigative Medicine in Cambridge.[2] She continued work at the Department until 1973.[2] In her later years, Bruce largely used a wheelchair, having been afflicted with worsening rheumatoid arthritis since 1942.[2]

Bruce effect

Main article: Bruce effect

Throughout the 1950s, Bruce studied sexual behaviour in laboratory mice, with a particular interest in oestrus synchronisation.[2] In one experiment, she housed newly mated pregnant females with male mice that were not the father of the carried embryo. As a result, the rate of miscarriages increased, these females subsequently returning to oestrus and mating with the new male.[4] No increased rate of miscarriages occurred when pregnant mice were paired with juvenile or castrated mice.[5]

Her colleague Alan Parkes, who had recruited her to the NIMR in 1944,[1] helped her to pursue the initial findings that eventually lead to this discovery.[6]

The National Institute for Medical Research

Following the isolation of pure vitamin D in 1931, Bruce worked in collaboration with Askew, Philpot and Webster in the Department of Biological Standards, determining the stability of the pure substance.[7] At this time, Bruce was also working with Dr Callow in the Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Biochemistry, determining the healing effect of vitamin D in rats with rickets.[8]

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 MRC National Institute for Medical Research (2014). A Century of Science and Health. MRC National Institute for Medical Research. p. 208.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Parkes, Alan S. (1977). "H. M. Bruce 1903-1974". Reproduction. 49 (1): 1–4. doi:10.1530/jrf.0.04900NP-c. PMID 319228.
  3. Hindle, H. M. Bruce and E. (2010). "The Golden Hamster, Cricetus (Mesocricetus) auratus Waterhouse. Notes on its Breeding and Growth". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 104 (2): 361–6. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1934.tb07757.x.
  4. 1 2 Bruce, Hilda M. (1959). "An Exteroceptive Block to Pregnancy in the Mouse". Nature. 184 (4680): 105. doi:10.1038/184105a0. PMID 13805128.
  5. Bruce, H. M. (1965). "Effect of Castration on the Reproductive Pheromones of Male Mice". Reproduction. 10: 141–3. doi:10.1530/jrf.0.0100141. PMID 14337805.
  6. Polge, Christopher (2006). "Sir Alan Stirling Parkes 10 September 1900 — 17 July 1990". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 52: 263–283. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2006.0019. PMID 18543475.
  7. Report of the Medical Research Council for the Year 1932-1933. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1934. p. 65.
  8. Report of the Medical Research Council for the Year 1932-1933. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1934. p. 53.
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