Golgi: a life in science
| Autor: | Mitchell Glickstein |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Brain. 135:301-303 |
| ISSN: | 1460-2156 0006-8950 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/brain/awr207 |
| Popis: | In 1906, the professors of the Karolinska Institute had a problem; who should get the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine? In the previous 25 years, understanding of the structure of the brain and spinal cord had greatly increased. The nerve cell, or neuron, had been identified as the fundamental unit of the nervous system. The new discoveries had helped to understand the normal functions of the brain and spinal cord and to interpret the causes of neurological disease. The work of two men had led to these advances. One, the Spaniard Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852–1934) and the other, the Italian Camillo Golgi (1843–1926). Cajal's great contribution was recognized in his own day, and he continues to be revered. Golgi is acknowledged, but far less well known. Golgi: a biography of the founder of modern neuroscience by Paolo Mazzarello (2009) is explicit in its claims and goes some way to redressing the imbalance. Before Golgi's work, the structure of individual nerve cells was poorly understood. The available methods for preserving and staining nervous tissue yielded an incomplete picture. The painstaking work of Otto Friedrich Karl Deiters [(1834–63); 1865] had demonstrated the continuity between the nerve cell and its dendrites and axon, but his work involved tedious dissection of hardened tissue, and was most feasible for spinal motor neurons. The many shapes of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord could not easily be established using his methods. Golgi's discovery changed all that. Golgi was studying blocks of brain that had been fixed in potassium dichromate and then stained with silver nitrate. In 1873, for the first time, he tentatively announced his … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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