198 results on '"neuron doctrine"'
Search Results
2. Introduction
- Author
-
Walz, Wolfgang and Walz, Wolfgang
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
Catalog
3. Brains, Data, and Ethics
- Author
-
Rainey, Stephen and Rainey, Stephen
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Neurobiological reduction: From cellular explanations of behavior to interventions.
- Author
-
Parker, David
- Subjects
PHILOSOPHY of science ,NEUROSCIENCES ,NEUROBIOLOGY ,NERVOUS system ,CELL communication ,GENETIC techniques ,COGNITIVE ability - Abstract
Scientific reductionism, the view that higher level functions can be explained by properties at some lower-level or levels, has been an assumption of nervous system analyses since the acceptance of the neuron doctrine in the late 19th century, and became a dominant experimental approach with the development of intracellular recording techniques in the mid-20th century. Subsequent refinements of electrophysiological approaches and the continual development of molecular and genetic techniques have promoted a focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms in experimental analyses and explanations of sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. Reductionist assumptions have also influenced our views of the etiology and treatment of psychopathologies, and have more recently led to claims that we can, or even should, pharmacologically enhance the normal brain. Reductionism remains an area of active debate in the philosophy of science. In neuroscience and psychology, the debate typically focuses on the mind-brain question and the mechanisms of cognition, and how or if they can be explained in neurobiological terms. However, these debates are affected by the complexity of the phenomena being considered and the difficulty of obtaining the necessary neurobiological detail. We can instead ask whether features identified in neurobiological analyses of simpler aspects in simpler nervous systems support current molecular and cellular approaches to explaining systems or behaviors. While my view is that they do not, this does not invite the opposing view prevalent in dichotomous thinking that molecular and cellular detail is irrelevant and we should focus on computations or representations. We instead need to consider how to address the long-standing dilemma of how a nervous system that ostensibly functions through discrete cell to cell communication can generate population effects across multiple spatial and temporal scales to generate behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Evolution of staining methods in neuroanatomy: Impetus for emanation of neuron doctrine during the turn of 20th century.
- Author
-
Ghosh SK and Walocha JA
- Subjects
- Animals, Humans, History, 20th Century, Silver Staining, History, 18th Century, History, 19th Century, Neuroanatomy history, Neuroanatomy methods, Neurons cytology, Staining and Labeling history, Staining and Labeling methods
- Abstract
The nervous system is distinctive as compared to other tissue systems in human body owing to intricate structural organization. Histological studies played a key role in unveiling complex details of nervous tissue. However, the process of developing suitable staining method for nerve cells was arduous and spanned across almost half a century. The present study explored details of the journey involving quest for propitious staining method in neuroanatomy culminating in promulgation of neuron doctrine at the onset of 20th century. Initial efforts involving hematoxylin (including its diverse modifications) and subsequent adoption of analogous dye-based stains (like Nissl's method) had limited success in visualization of different parts of a nerve cell and structural details of nervous tissue. This was due to inability of dye-based stains to penetrate the connective tissue sheath of nervous tissue. Eventually, advent of metallic stains in form of silver impregnation method (Golgi stain), reduced silver impregnation method with gold stain (Cajal's stain) and silver carbonate staining method of Río-Hortega unraveled the structure of nervous tissue. The evolution of staining methods catalyzed the refinement of theories pertinent to constitution of nervous tissue. Golgi's staining led to emergence of reticular theory (neurons exist as a network) and Nissl's staining was the basis of the concept of Nervösen Grau (nerve cells and glial cells are embedded in mass of gray matter). Finally, Cajal's staining method successfully elucidated the complex anatomy of nerve terminals and resulted in emanation of neuron doctrine (neurons exists as individual units with adjacent connections)., (© 2024 American Association for Anatomy.) more...
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. A Tale of Two Brains- Cortical localization and neurophysiology in the 19th and 20th century
- Author
-
Philippe-Antoine Bilodeau
- Subjects
cortical localization ,neuroanatomy ,neurophysiology ,anatomoclinical approach ,neuron doctrine ,electrophysiology ,Medicine - Abstract
Introduction: Other authors have well described the importance of experimental physiology in the development of brain sciences and the individual discoveries of the founding fathers of modern neurology. Here is discussed the birth of neurological sciences in the 19th and 20th century and their epistemological origins. Discussion: In the span of two hundred years, we saw the emergence of two different brains: the neuroanatomical brain, exemplified by cortical localization and the anatomo-clinical approach pioneered by Jean-Martin Charcot, and the neurophysiological brain, exemplified by Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s neuron doctrine and pre-modern electrophysiology. We can distinguish between brain function, understood as the attribution of physiological functions to discrete anatomical structures, and brain functioning, understood as an approach to nervous system functioning and physiology that emphasizes mechanisms. Conclusion: In the 19th and 20th century, the brain became an organ with a physiology that could be understood. However, we saw the development of two different conceptions of the brain, which continue to influence neurological sciences to this day. Relevance: With modern cognitive neuroscience, functional neuroanatomy, cellular and molecular neurophysiology and neural networks, neurological sciences all have different analytical units, which are tributaries of the 19th and 20th century development of the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological brains. more...
- Published
- 2020
7. Camillo Golgi (1843-1926): scientist extraordinaire and pioneer figure of modern neurology.
- Author
-
Ghosh, Sanjib Kumar
- Subjects
- *
SCIENTISTS , *NOBEL Prize in Physiology or Medicine , *NERVOUS system , *SENSORY receptors , *NEUROSCIENCES - Abstract
Camillo Golgi was an extraordinary scientist whose contributions in the domain of neuroanatomy proved to be critical for emergence of neuroscience as a sovereign scientific discipline. Golgi's invention of the Black Reaction (La reazione nera) was a watershed event as it allowed remarkable visualization of the organizational pattern of elements of nervous system among complex puzzle of close knit interconnections. Till this time thin filamentary extensions of neural cells (axon and dendrites) could not be visualized with available staining techniques because of their slender and transparent nature. However invention of Black Reaction and its subsequent application demystified the basic architecture of brain tissue which was now visible to the scholars in all its complexity in microscopic studies. Golgi is also credited with the discovery of two types of sensory receptors in muscle tendons: Golgi tendon organ and Golgi-Mazzoni corpuscles. Golgi was the first to be successful in staining myelin component of axon, which he used to discover the myelin annular apparatus. He identified the complete life cycle of Plasmodium (malarial parasite) in human erythrocytes. His research on histological details of human kidney highlighted the existence of juxtaglomerular apparatus. Later on Spanish scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, based on the use of Golgi's Staining (Black Reaction) documented the morphologic details of nervous system in a more refined manner, which eventually led to the emergence of Neuron Doctrine. In recognition of their exemplary contributions in neuroscience Golgi and Cajal were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1906. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. Ideas para un siglo: de la teoría de la neurona a los reflejos condicionados
- Author
-
Campos Bueno, José Javier and Campos Bueno, José Javier
- Abstract
In April 1903 Madrid held the14th International Medical Congress. The meeting attracted a great number native and foreigner scholars from all over the world. Three years before, in the former Congress in Paris, Cajal had been awarded with the coveted Moscow Prize. Now the event bestowed Spanish scientist activities international recognition in a country that for a long time had been out of the core of the scientific research. The occasion gave rise to the spreading of the Spanish research among the international community. The nervous system research and the study of behaviour gained benefit of two important findings that were definitely acknowledged. Pavlov showed his skillfulness with dogs' experimental preparations, a technique well known by J. Gomez Ocana, and read a paper on "The Experimental Psychology and Psychopathology of Animals" regarding the conditioned reflex as a psychological phenomenon. Ramon y Cajal in his controversial communication "Critical Regards to A. Bethe theory concerning the structure and connexions of the nervous cells" claimed against the "reticular theory" and the idea that the nervous system was a widespread network of filaments in continuity. In the debate that followed, Simarro had a large discourse supporting with his own data the neuronal theory. The new technique devised by Simarro, using a silver impregnation method -Iater reduced by Cajal- were more reliable in staining neurofibrils and allowed a clear visualization of the protoplasm. The selective staining of the neuronal cytoskeleton revealed that the neurofibrils didn't form a continuous neuronal net. Both findings displayed at the Madrid Medical Congress will decisively influence onto Ihe later development of their disciplines. In 1904 Pavlov received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and two years later Ramón y Cajal was also awarded by the Swedish Academia. 80th discoveries definitely consolidate a fruitful way for the study of the brain, the behaviour and the ment, Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub more...
- Published
- 2023
9. Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Neuron Doctrine
- Author
-
Simge Aykan Zergeroğlu and Erhan Nalçacı
- Subjects
Santiago Ramon y Cajal ,Neuron Doctrine ,Neuroscience ,Reticular Theory ,Medicine ,Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system ,RC346-429 - Abstract
Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s emergence in the world of science has led to a new era in neuroscience. He was the founder of modern neuroscience with the neuron doctrine he revealed. He showed that nervous system was not a continuum network structure as it is believed to that day, but consists of individual cell as in all other tissues. His contribution to modern neuroscience was not limited to the neuron doctrine, he also contributed to neuronal morphology, communication and development. All of these contributions was honored with a shared Nobel Prize Award with Camillo Golgi in 1906, for their studies on the nervous system. Santiago Ramon y Cajal, was a scientist with unusual observation and interpretation talents, who pushed the conditions until the end to access to information and share his findings in the underdeveloped scientific environment of Spain. Besides, he was involved in scientific breakthroughs of his country. Ramon y Cajal was not only a scientist but also a multi-faceted personality; a passionate chess player, gymnast, a very talented painter and photographer. more...
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
10. PARA UNA RECONSIDERACIÓN DEL LEGADO DE RAMÓN Y CAJAL A LAS NEUROCIENCIAS.
- Author
-
Arias Domínguez, Asier
- Subjects
NEUROSCIENCES ,NERVOUS system - Abstract
Copyright of Asclepio is the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) more...
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
11. Conceptual Change and Tool Development: The Challenges of the Neurosciences to the Philosophy of Scientific Revolutions
- Author
-
Barberis, Sergio Daniel and Barberis, Sergio Daniel
- Abstract
The determining role that tool development plays in neuroscientific progress poses special challenges to the Kuhnian-rooted philosophy of scientific change. Some philosophers of neuroscience argue that revolutions in neuroscience do not involve paradigm shifts, but instead depend exclusively on technical or experimental innovation. By studying the historical episode of the discovery of the neuron (1873-1909), I argue that revolutions in neuroscience, like many other laboratory revolutions, are frequently driven by the intertwining of technical innovations and conceptual change., El papel determinante que desempeña la innovación técnica en el progreso neurocientífico plantea desafíos especiales a la filosofía del cambio científico de raigambre kuhniana. Algunos filósofos de la neurociencia sostienen que las revoluciones en neurociencia no involucran cambios de paradigma, sino que dependen exclusivamente de la innovación técnica o experimental. Mediante el estudio del episodio histórico del descubrimiento de la neurona (1873-1909), argumento que las revoluciones en neurociencia, como muchas otras revoluciones de laboratorio, están frecuentemente impulsadas por el entrelazamiento de innovaciones técnicas y cambio conceptual. more...
- Published
- 2022
12. Neurobiological reduction: From cellular explanations of behavior to interventions
- Author
-
David Parker and Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
- Subjects
volume transmission ,neuron doctrine ,ephapse ,reductionism ,cognitive enhancement ,neuroeducation ,General Psychology ,psychiatry - Abstract
Peer reviewed: True, Scientific reductionism, the view that higher level functions can be explained by properties at some lower-level or levels, has been an assumption of nervous system analyses since the acceptance of the neuron doctrine in the late 19th century, and became a dominant experimental approach with the development of intracellular recording techniques in the mid-20th century. Subsequent refinements of electrophysiological approaches and the continual development of molecular and genetic techniques have promoted a focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms in experimental analyses and explanations of sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. Reductionist assumptions have also influenced our views of the etiology and treatment of psychopathologies, and have more recently led to claims that we can, or even should, pharmacologically enhance the normal brain. Reductionism remains an area of active debate in the philosophy of science. In neuroscience and psychology, the debate typically focuses on the mind-brain question and the mechanisms of cognition, and how or if they can be explained in neurobiological terms. However, these debates are affected by the complexity of the phenomena being considered and the difficulty of obtaining the necessary neurobiological detail. We can instead ask whether features identified in neurobiological analyses of simpler aspects in simpler nervous systems support current molecular and cellular approaches to explaining systems or behaviors. While my view is that they do not, this does not invite the opposing view prevalent in dichotomous thinking that molecular and cellular detail is irrelevant and we should focus on computations or representations. We instead need to consider how to address the long-standing dilemma of how a nervous system that ostensibly functions through discrete cell to cell communication can generate population effects across multiple spatial and temporal scales to generate behavior. more...
- Published
- 2022
13. Camillo Golgi (1843 –1926): scientist extraordinaire and pioneer figure of modern neurology
- Author
-
Sanjib Kumar Ghosh
- Subjects
Nervous system ,Black reaction ,Histology ,Review Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,symbols.namesake ,Myelin ,0302 clinical medicine ,Clinical Research ,medicine ,Golgi ,Axon ,0303 health sciences ,Neuron doctrine ,Cajal ,Golgi tendon organ ,Philosophy ,Cell Biology ,Golgi apparatus ,humanities ,Nobel prize ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,030301 anatomy & morphology ,Neurology ,symbols ,Human erythrocytes ,Anatomy ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Developmental Biology ,Neuroanatomy - Abstract
Camillo Golgi was an extraordinary scientist whose contributions in the domain of neuroanatomy proved to be critical for emergence of neuroscience as a sovereign scientific discipline. Golgi's invention of the Black Reaction (La reazione nera) was a watershed event as it allowed remarkable visualization of the organizational pattern of elements of nervous system among complex puzzle of close knit interconnections. Till this time thin filamentary extensions of neural cells (axon and dendrites) could not be visualized with available staining techniques because of their slender and transparent nature. However invention of Black Reaction and its subsequent application demystified the basic architecture of brain tissue which was now visible to the scholars in all its complexity in microscopic studies. Golgi is also credited with the discovery of two types of sensory receptors in muscle tendons: Golgi tendon organ and Golgi-Mazzoni corpuscles. Golgi was the first to be successful in staining myelin component of axon, which he used to discover the myelin annular apparatus. He identified the complete life cycle of Plasmodium (malarial parasite) in human erythrocytes. His research on histological details of human kidney highlighted the existence of juxtaglomerular apparatus. Later on Spanish scientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal, based on the use of Golgi's Staining (Black Reaction) documented the morphologic details of nervous system in a more refined manner, which eventually led to the emergence of Neuron Doctrine. In recognition of their exemplary contributions in neuroscience Golgi and Cajal were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1906. more...
- Published
- 2020
14. An update on the Golgi staining technique improving cerebellar cell type specificity
- Author
-
B. Eiberger, F. Lang, Stephan L. Baader, A. van Rienen, and N. Czechowska
- Subjects
Male ,0301 basic medicine ,Cerebellum ,Histology ,Dendritic spine ,Golgi Apparatus ,Biology ,Mice ,03 medical and health sciences ,symbols.namesake ,Single-cell analysis ,Labelling ,medicine ,Animals ,Molecular Biology ,Neuron doctrine ,Staining and Labeling ,030102 biochemistry & molecular biology ,Cell Biology ,Golgi apparatus ,Staining ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,Medical Laboratory Technology ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,symbols ,Female ,Neuroscience ,Developmental biology - Abstract
The detailed morphological characterization of single cells was a major breakthrough in neuroscience during the turn of the twentieth century, enabling Ramon y Cajal to postulate the neuron doctrine. Even after 150 years, single cell analysis is an intriguing goal, newly motivated by the finding that autism might be caused by intricate and discreet changes in cerebellar morphology. Besides new single labelling technologies, the Golgi staining technique is still in use due to its whole cell labelling characteristics, its superior contrast performance over other methods and its apparent randomness of staining cells within a whole tissue block. However, the specificity and whole cell labelling of Golgi staining are also disputed controversially, and the method still has a poor reputation for being time consuming and needing high expenditures. We demonstrate here, how a classical Golgi technique can be adapted for staining different cerebellar cell types using a time-saving and efficient protocol, enabling the identification of the detailed morphological characteristics of single cells. more...
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
15. The anatomical problem posed by brain complexity and size: a potential solution.
- Author
-
DeFelipe, Javier
- Subjects
BRAIN mapping ,NEUROANATOMY ,BRAIN anatomy ,GRAY matter (Nerve tissue) ,SPATIAL distribution (Quantum optics) - Abstract
Over the years the field of neuroanatomy has evolved considerably but unraveling the extraordinary structural and functional complexity of the brain seems to be an unattainable goal, partly due to the fact that it is only possible to obtain an imprecise connection matrix of the brain. The reasons why reaching such a goal appears almost impossible to date is discussed here, together with suggestions of how we could overcome this anatomical problem by establishing new methodologies to study the brain and by promoting interdisciplinary collaboration. Generating a realistic computational model seems to be the solution rather than attempting tofully reconstruct the whole brain or a particular brain region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
16. Santiago Ramon y Cajal ve Nöron Doktrini.
- Author
-
Zergeroğlu, Simge Aykan and Nalçacı, Erhan
- Abstract
Santiago Ramon y Cajal's emergence in the world of science has led to a new era in neuroscience. He was the founder of modern neuroscience with the neuron doctrine he revealed. He showed that nervous system was not a continuum network structure as it is believed to that day, but consists of individual cell as in all other tissues. His contribution to modern neuroscience was not limited to the neuron doctrine, he also contributed to neuronal morphology, communication and development. All of these contributions was honored with a shared Nobel Prize Award with Camillo Golgi in 1906, for their studies on the nervous system. Santiago Ramon y Cajal, was a scientist with unusual observation and interpretation talents, who pushed the conditions until the end to access to information and share his findings in the underdeveloped scientific environment of Spain. Besides, he was involved in scientific breakthroughs of his country. Ramon y Cajal was not only a scientist but also a multi-faceted personality; a passionate chess player, gymnast, a very talented painter and photographer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
17. The dendritic spine story: an intriguing process of discovery.
- Author
-
DeFelipe, Javier
- Subjects
DENDRITIC cells ,SPINE ,POSTSYNAPTIC potential ,EXCITATORY amino acid agents ,AXONS - Abstract
Dendritic spines are key components of a variety of microcircuits and they represent the majority of postsynaptic targets of glutamatergic axon terminals in the brain. The present article will focus on the discovery of dendritic spines, which was possible thanks to the application of the Golgi technique to the study of the nervous system, and will also explore the early interpretation of these elements. This discovery represents an interesting chapter in the history of neuroscience as it shows us that progress in the study of the structure of the nervous system is based not only on the emergence of new techniques but also on our ability to exploit the methods already available and correctly interpret their microscopic images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
18. Nerve Fiber Form and Transformation.
- Author
-
Ochs, Sidney
- Abstract
In the previous chapters, the concept of channels in nerve through which animal spirits are conveyed was an inference made from the empty blood vessels seen in optic nerves. When, starting in the seventeenth century, microscopes became available, they were eagerly taken up in the search for them. Despite the difficulties in handling the soft nerve tissue and imperfect lenses used in early microscopic studies, they did show nerve fibers that were cylindrical in form. Their internal composition, however, was a matter of dispute, whether fluid as the concept of moving spirits demanded, or solid as called for by vibratory theories. A resolution of this point was of major importance. When microscopes with achromatic lenses and with reduced spherical aberration became available in the nineteenth century, their greatly improved resolution showed the contents of the fibers to contain fluid and filamentous structures. The nerve fibers were seen to be extensions of the cell bodies, parts of the same entity, the concept expressed as the neuron doctrine. With the advent of electron microscopy, the filamentous structures within the fibers were resolved and shown to consist of several species of longitudinally organized protein polymers: neurofilaments, microtubules, and microfilaments that are collectively referred to as the cytoskeleton. The functions of these different protein structures were related to the shape of the fiber and the means by which materials are carried out into the fibers to maintain their structure and functions, by the mechanism known as axoplasmic or axonal transport, to be discussed in detail in Chapters 11 and 12. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
19. Purkinje cell neurotransmission patterns cerebellar basket cells into zonal modules that are defined by distinct pinceau sizes
- Author
-
Yi (Joy) Zhou, Marife Arancillo, Tao Lin, Roy V. Sillitoe, Elizabeth P. Lackey, and Amanda M Brown
- Subjects
0303 health sciences ,Neuron doctrine ,Purkinje cell ,Neurotransmission ,Biology ,Inhibitory postsynaptic potential ,Synapse ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,nervous system ,Basket cell ,medicine ,Excitatory postsynaptic potential ,Axon ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,030304 developmental biology - Abstract
Ramón y Cajal proclaimed the neuron doctrine based on circuit features he exemplified using cerebellar basket cell projections. Basket cells form dense inhibitory plexuses that wrap Purkinje cell somata and terminate as pinceaux at the initial segment of axons. Here, we demonstrate that HCN1, Kv1.1, PSD95 and GAD67 unexpectedly mark patterns of basket cell pinceaux that map onto Purkinje cell functional zones. Using cell-specific genetic tracing with anAscl1CreERT2mouse conditional allele, we reveal that basket cell zones comprise different sizes of pinceaux. We tested whether Purkinje cells instruct the assembly of inhibitory projections into zones, as they do for excitatory afferents. Genetically silencing Purkinje cell neurotransmission blocks the formation of sharp Purkinje cell zones and disrupts excitatory axon patterning. The distribution of pinceaux into size-specific zones is eliminated without Purkinje cell output. Our data uncover the cellular and molecular diversity of a foundational synapse that revolutionized neuroscience. more...
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
20. Cajal's Interactions with Sherrington and the Croonian Lecture
- Author
-
CSIC - Instituto Cajal (IC), Carlos, Juan A. de, Molnár, Zoltán, CSIC - Instituto Cajal (IC), Carlos, Juan A. de, and Molnár, Zoltán
- Abstract
Sherrington was a major proponent of the neuron doctrine and he was inspired by Santiago Ramón y Cajal's theory of dynamic polarization of nerve cells (Ley de la polarización dinámica de la célula nerviosa). Sherrington coined the term “synapse” to name the Cajal description of interneuronal contact and he gave the term, for functional nerve endings, as “Boutons terminaux,” still used today. These two giants of neuroscience met only once, but they had a life-long friendship. It was Sherrington who wrote Cajal's Obituary for the Royal Society. We review here some of the scientific exchanges between Cajal and Sherrington, with particular attention to 1894, when the two neuroscientist met in London during Cajal's visit to deliver the Croonian Lecture to the Royal Society. We shall examine not only the scientific exchanges but also their friendship, which was immediate and strong. Anat Rec, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. more...
- Published
- 2019
21. What's Black and White About the Grey Matter?
- Author
-
Douglas, Rodney and Martin, Kevan
- Abstract
In 1873 Camillo Golgi discovered his eponymous stain, which he called la reazione nera. By adding to it the concepts of the Neuron Doctrine and the Law of Dynamic Polarisation, Santiago Ramon y Cajal was able to link the individual Golgi-stained neurons he saw down his microscope into circuits. This was revolutionary and we have all followed Cajal's winning strategy for over a century. We are now on the verge of a new revolution, which offers the prize of a far more comprehensive description of neural circuits and their operation. The hope is that we will exploit the power of computer vision algorithms and modern molecular biological techniques to acquire rapidly reconstructions of single neurons and synaptic circuits, and to control the function of selected types of neurons. Only one item is now conspicuous by its absence: the 21st century equivalent of the concepts of the Neuron Doctrine and the Law of Dynamic Polarisation. Without their equivalent we will inevitably struggle to make sense of our 21st century observations within the 19th and 20th century conceptual framework we have inherited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
22. Robert Bentley Todd's Contribution to Cell Theory and The Neuron Doctrine.
- Author
-
Binder, DevinK., Rajneesh, KiranF., Lee, DarrinJ., and Reynolds, EdwardH.
- Subjects
- *
19TH century medical history , *BIOGRAPHIES of physicians , *HISTOLOGY , *NEUROLOGY , *NEURONS , *NERVOUS system - Abstract
Robert Bentley Todd, who is best remembered for 'Todd's paralysis,' made many more important contributions to neurology and neuroscience, including the concept of brain electricity and electrical discharges in epilepsy. He was also a pioneering microscopist and we here review his neurohistological studies and his contributions to the application of Schwann's (1839) cell theory to the nervous system and the later neuron doctrine, as described in his textbook The Descriptive and Physiological Anatomy of the Brain, Spinal Cord and Ganglions (Todd, 1845), his Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology (1847) and his joint textbook with William Bowman The Physiological Anatomy and Physiology of Man (1845). Writing in the mid-1840s, Todd acknowledged that the 'vesicles' he observed corresponded to the earlier descriptions of 'globules' or 'kugeln' by Valentin and which Schwann first interpreted as cell bodies. Todd was among the first to recognize that nerve cell bodies were in continuity with axons ('axis cylinders'), sometimes associated with 'the white substance of Schwann' ('tubular' fibers), or sometimes without ('gelatinous' fibers). He also described continuous nerve cell branching processes, later called dendrites. He was the first to recognize the insulating properties of Schwann's 'white substance' (myelin) to facilitate conduction. Influenced by his contemporary, Faraday, Todd was also the first to develop the functional concept of dynamic polarization ('nervous polarity') to explain nerve cell conduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
23. Golgi in retrospect: A historiographic examination of contextual influence in tracing the constructs of neuronal organization
- Author
-
Kruger, Lawrence, Otis, Thomas S., and Shtrahman, Matthew
- Subjects
- *
NEURONS , *RETICULAR formation , *NERVOUS system , *HISTORY of neurology , *NOBEL Prizes - Abstract
Abstract: The concepts underlying the connectivity of neurons and the dynamics of interaction required to explain information processing have undergone significant change over the past century. A re-examination of the evolution of the modern view in historical context reveals that rules for connectivity have changed in a manner that might be expected from critical analysis enabled by technical advance. A retrospective examination of some germane issues that moved Camillo Golgi to question the widely held dogma of his era reveals network principles that could not have been recognized a century ago. The currently evolving rules of cellular discontinuity and interaction have proven sufficiently complex to justify the arguments of critical skepticism that sustain scientific progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
24. Santiago Ramón y Cajal: Father of neurosciences.
- Author
-
Venkataramani, Prasanna
- Subjects
BIOLOGISTS ,NEUROPLASTICITY ,TWENTIETH century ,MORPHOLOGY ,NEUROSCIENCES - Abstract
The twentieth century has witnessed many outstanding scientists who revolutionized our understanding of Nature. Our comprehension of the brain to a large extent stems from the meticulous work of the Spanish biologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who is considered as the Father of Modern Neurosciences. Cajal made prolific contributions for over half a century on the anatomical organization of the brain. The Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin awarded Cajal the prestigious Helmholtz gold medal for his contributions in the year 1905. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906 along with Camillo Golgi (an Italian scientist) in recognition of his work on the structure of the nervous system. In this article we will remember the life and work of this brilliant scientist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
25. How the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared between Golgi and Cajal
- Author
-
Grant, Gunnar
- Subjects
- *
NEUROSCIENCES , *CENTRAL nervous system , *BLUE stain - Abstract
Abstract: In 1906 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared between Camillo Golgi and Ramón y Cajal in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system. Golgi''s most impressive contribution was his method, described in 1873. This was applied in studies of the cerebellum, the olfactory bulb, hippocampus and the spinal cord. These studies together with his earlier work were included in his Opera Omnia, published in 1903. His method was highly praised by Cajal. His adherence to the reticular theory was opposed by Cajal, however, who had spelled out the neuron theory already in the late 1800s. Cajal''s extraordinary contributions to the structure of the nervous system, based largely on the Golgi method and Ehrlich''s methylene blue stain, were published in his Textura del Sistema Nerviosa de Hombre y de los Vertebrados, three volumes published from 1897 to 1904. Documents from the Nobel Archives reveal that Kölliker, Retzius and Fürst were the ones who proposed Golgi and Cajal for a shared prize. Golgi was nominated by Hertwig, as well. Cajal was proposed by Ziehen and Holmgren, and also by Retzius, as an alternative to a shared prize. Holmgren, who was commissioned to write the report to the Nobel Committee, found Cajal far superior to Golgi. Sundberg, asked for another evaluation, was more positive to Golgi''s contributions than Holmgren. Gadelius supported Holmgren''s views. The final vote gave a majority for a shared prize. The prize ceremony and the lectures were described in detail in Cajal''s autobiography. [Copyright &y& Elsevier] more...
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
26. The sensory neuron and the triumph of Camillo Golgi
- Author
-
Kruger, Lawrence
- Subjects
- *
SENSORY neurons , *NERVOUS system , *CENTRAL nervous system , *CEREBRAL cortex - Abstract
Abstract: While Golgi''s concept of the sensory neuron provided sound reasons for his rejection of the polarity principles underlying the ‘neuron doctrine’, it is now apparent that his concern about recovery of function after injury and the vast modern findings of ephemerality of connexin-clustered connections in the cerebral cortex and elsewhere in the central nervous system, and credibly termed ‘reticularist’, has somewhat eclipsed the polarized neuron doctrine of reflex physiology with the “fixed and immutable” connections championed by Cajal. Although Golgi''s view was not the result of incisive reasoning based on subsequently confirmed observation, both principles espoused by these combatant Nobel laureate partners have proven robustly operative in different spheres and time frames of neural activity that have vastly enhanced contemporary understanding of neural connectivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier] more...
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
27. Whither withered Golgi?: A retrospective evaluation of reticularist and synaptic constructs
- Author
-
Kruger, Lawrence and Otis, Thomas S.
- Subjects
- *
NEURONS , *MEMBRANE proteins , *NEURAL circuitry - Abstract
Abstract: The 100th anniversary of the shared first Nobel prize in neuroscience by Camillo Golgi and Ramon y Cajal invites reappraisal of the merits of the arguments adduced by these two combative scientists in the light of contemporary knowledge. Guided by cogent reasons for reluctance in accepting the inviolable polarity principle of the neuron doctrine and concern for explaining cerebral recovery of function, Golgi joined the ‘reticularists’ of his generation. Modern observations of axo-axonic and dendro-dendritic synapses, gap-junction interconnections, rules for the direction and mode of analog or impulse conduction, the myriad diversity of ion channels and gating principles and the complexities of synaptic plasticity have eclipsed the polarized neuron doctrine explanations of reflex physiology and the ‘fixed and immutable’ connections successfully championed by Cajal. Without violating the cell theory, expanded modes of neuronal and glial communication have encompassed reticularist notions and provided insight into the long-term changes underlying synaptic and extra-synaptic neural patterns. Both laureates espoused operative principles that have survived in different modes and distinctive temporal domains. Together, they reflect the roots of our contemporary understanding of neural interaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier] more...
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
28. The Impossible Interview with the Man of the Neuron Doctrine.
- Author
-
Jones, EdwardG.
- Subjects
- *
IMAGINARY interviews , *NOBEL Prizes , *NERVOUS system , *SYNAPSES , *EDUCATION - Abstract
This paper follows the form of that by Mazzarello that precedes it (Mazzarello, 2006) and presents an imaginary interview with Santiago Ramón y Cajal in December 1906. A few days earlier Cajal had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, an award that he shared equally with Professor Camillo Golgi. Golgi had been recognized for his work as a pioneer into investigations of the nervous system, primarily on account of his discovery of the "black reaction" of silver chromate impregnation of whole nerve cells and their processes. Cajal had been recognized for his implementation of that method and for laying with it the foundations of what was to become modern neuroanatomical science. Paradoxically, the two awardees had been led by their researches to diametrically opposed views of the organization of the nervous system. Golgi believed in a continuous network of axons that formed the basis of all the integrative properties of the nervous system, while Cajal had provided the information that led to the formulation of the neuron doctrine that saw the nervous system as being made up of chains of discontinuous cells joined by polarized functional contacts that we now call synapses. The paper takes the form of an interview with Professor Cajal in the Grand Hotel Stockholm. His responses to questions posed by the imaginary interviewer are all taken from Cajal's own writings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2006
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
29. Edward Albert Schäfer (Sharpey-Schafer) and his Contributions to Neuroscience: Commemorating of the 150th Anniversary of his Birth.
- Author
-
Sparrow, Elizabeth P. and Finger*, Stanley
- Subjects
- *
NEUROSCIENCES , *MEDICINE - Abstract
The year 2000 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Albert Schäfer (Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer). Affiliated first with University College, London, and then with Edinburgh University, Schäfer made monumental contributions to the fields of histology, physiology, endocrinology, and practical medicine. This paper traces his professional life and emphasizes his seminal contributions to the neurosciences, which include his findings in support of neuron doctrine, his research on cortical localization in monkeys, his discovery of adrenaline and its place in the history of neural transmission, and his studies on recovery after nerve damage. Author of many histology and physiology books, founder of the “Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology,” and mentor to many students who achieved great fame themselves, Schäfer was an active teacher and researcher, a man who remained committed to his vision of medicine based on laboratory science until he died in 1935. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2001
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
30. Cajal's Interactions with Sherrington and the Croonian Lecture
- Author
-
Zoltán Molnár, Juan A. De Carlos, and CSIC - Instituto Cajal (IC)
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Histology ,Neuron doctrine ,Cajal ,neuron doctrine ,Philosophy ,Neurosciences ,History, 19th Century ,Obituary ,Correspondence as Topic ,Synapse ,lectures ,03 medical and health sciences ,Sherrington ,030104 developmental biology ,0302 clinical medicine ,Nerve cells ,Humans ,Anatomy ,Theology ,epistolary ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Biotechnology - Abstract
Sherrington was a major proponent of the neuron doctrine and he was inspired by Santiago Ramón y Cajal's theory of dynamic polarization of nerve cells (Ley de la polarización dinámica de la célula nerviosa). Sherrington coined the term “synapse” to name the Cajal description of interneuronal contact and he gave the term, for functional nerve endings, as “Boutons terminaux,” still used today. These two giants of neuroscience met only once, but they had a life-long friendship. It was Sherrington who wrote Cajal's Obituary for the Royal Society. We review here some of the scientific exchanges between Cajal and Sherrington, with particular attention to 1894, when the two neuroscientist met in London during Cajal's visit to deliver the Croonian Lecture to the Royal Society. We shall examine not only the scientific exchanges but also their friendship, which was immediate and strong. Anat Rec, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., The authors are grateful to Instituto Cajal (CSIC) for sharing two original letters for reproduction and to Professor Richard Brown for his helpful comments on the manuscript. more...
- Published
- 2019
31. The Formation and Structure of Synapses
- Author
-
Stephen D. Meriney and Erika E. Fanselow
- Subjects
Nervous system ,Synapse ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Neuron doctrine ,nervous system ,medicine ,Neuron ,Biology ,Neuroscience - Abstract
The ability of neurons to send signals to one another is crucial for the function of the nervous system, but early scientists had no way of knowing how communication from one neuron to another occurred. We now take for granted that synapses exist between neurons, but before this could be verified using the advanced experimental techniques available relatively recently, there was debate among early neuroscientists about whether this was true. Some scientists proposed that neurons were contiguous with one another, much like capillaries in the body, while others concluded that neurons were in fact separate cells. This latter concept was called the Neuron Doctrine, which we now know to be correct. The junctions between neurons were given the name “synapse,” and the study of synapses has revealed ultrastructural details of synaptic structure as well as an understanding of how the nervous system assembles synapses during nervous system development. more...
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
32. The 'Big-Bang' for modern glial biology: Translation and comments on Pío del Río-Hortega 1919 series of papers on microglia
- Author
-
Manuel Garrosa, Amanda Sierra, José R. Iglesias-Rozas, Fernando de Castro, Helmut Kettenmann, and Juan del Río-Hortega
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Value (ethics) ,Neuron doctrine ,Microglia ,Late 19th century ,Context (language use) ,Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,030104 developmental biology ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,nervous system ,Neurology ,medicine ,Nerve glue ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Period (music) - Abstract
The word "glia" was coined in the mid-19th century and defined as "the nerve glue". For decades, it was assumed to be a uniform matrix, until cell theorists raised the "neuron doctrine" which stipulated that nervous tissue was composed of individual cells. The term "astrocytes" was introduced in the late 19th century as a synonym for glial cells, but it was Santiago Ramon y Cajal who defined a "third element" distinct from glial cells (astrocytes) and neurons. It was not until 1919 when Pio del Rio-Hortega, an alumnus of the Cajal School, introduced the modern terms we use today, and thoroughly described both "oligodendrocytes" and "microglia" to clearly distinguish them from astrocytes. In a series of four papers published that year in Spanish, Rio-Hortega described the distribution and morphological phenotype of microglia. He also noted that these cells were the origin of the rod cells described earlier in pathologic tissue, and recognized that resting microglia transformed into an ameboid phenotype in different types of brain diseases and pathologies. He also noted the mesodermal origin of these cells and recognized their phagocytic capacity. We here provide the first English translation of these landmark series of papers, which paved the way for modern glial research. To heighten the value and accessibility of these classic papers and their original figures, an introduction to this critical period of neuroscience is provided, along with unpublished photographs. By adding comments to the translated text, we provide sufficient context so that contemporary scientists may fully appreciate it. GLIA 2016;64:1801-1840. more...
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
33. Relations médecine - sciences dans l'individualisation des maladies nerveuses à la Salpêtrière à la fin du XIXe siècle.
- Author
-
BARBARA, Jean-Gaël
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
34. Pío del Río-Hortega: The Revolution of Glia
- Author
-
Juan del Rio-Hortega Bereciartu
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Histology ,Neuron doctrine ,Scientific career ,History of neuroscience ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Neurosciences ,Art ,History, 20th Century ,Histological staining ,03 medical and health sciences ,Politics ,030104 developmental biology ,0302 clinical medicine ,Spanish Civil War ,Spain ,Heaven ,Ammoniacal silver ,Anatomy ,Neuroglia ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Classics ,Biotechnology ,media_common - Abstract
Pio del Rio-Hortega (Portillo, 1882-Buenos Aires 1945) was a Spanish pioneer scientist. Here, we highlight his professional merits and scientific qualities, facets that permitted him to open the eyes of the scientific community to the existence of microglia and oligodendroglia. Indeed, after Cajal formulated the "neuron doctrine" (1888), Rio-Hortega was perhaps whose contributions represent the most important advances in our understanding of the microscopic anatomy of the nervous system. Rio-Hortega achieved his discoveries thanks to a histological staining method developed by himself, the ammoniacal silver carbonate staining, absolutely fundamental for his histological studies. His early education in Histology was due to Professor Leopoldo Lopez-Garcia, at the Faculty of Medicine of Valladolid. Later in Madrid (1912), Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Nicolas Achucarro became his definitive tutors. Achucarro was an exceptional neurohistopathologist and authentic mentor for Rio-Hortega until his death in 1918. The scientific career of Rio-Hortega oscillated between the international recognition of his scientific discoveries (nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1928 and 1937), and the personal/social misfortunes he suffered in Spain, such as his expulsion from Cajal's Laboratory in 1920, the hostile envy of some conservative Spanish academics for his scientific merit (1934), and his sad political exile (Paris, Oxford, and Buenos Aires) due to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Perhaps, Pio del Rio-Hortega is the paradigm of a Spanish scientist of the beginning of XXth century, living between the heaven and the hell, he revolutionized the scientific concept of glia. Anat Rec, 303:1232-1241, 2020. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy. more...
- Published
- 2018
35. The Gliocentric Brain
- Author
-
James M Robertson
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Empirical data ,neuro-glial interactions ,Consciousness ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Mice, Transgenic ,Review ,Catalysis ,Inorganic Chemistry ,Synapse ,lcsh:Chemistry ,memory ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,neurodegenerative disease ,Animals ,Humans ,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry ,Molecular Biology ,lcsh:QH301-705.5 ,Spectroscopy ,media_common ,Neurons ,Behavior ,Neuron doctrine ,Recall ,Artificial neural network ,Organic Chemistry ,Information processing ,astrocytes ,Brain ,Cognition ,Neurodegenerative Diseases ,General Medicine ,Computer Science Applications ,030104 developmental biology ,lcsh:Biology (General) ,lcsh:QD1-999 ,Synapses ,Psychology ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
The Neuron Doctrine, the cornerstone of research on normal and abnormal brain functions for over a century, has failed to discern the basis of complex cognitive functions. The location and mechanisms of memory storage and recall, consciousness, and learning, remain enigmatic. The purpose of this article is to critically review the Neuron Doctrine in light of empirical data over the past three decades. Similarly, the central role of the synapse and associated neural networks, as well as ancillary hypotheses, such as gamma synchrony and cortical minicolumns, are critically examined. It is concluded that each is fundamentally flawed and that, over the past three decades, the study of non-neuronal cells, particularly astrocytes, has shown that virtually all functions ascribed to neurons are largely the result of direct or indirect actions of glia continuously interacting with neurons and neural networks. Recognition of non-neural cells in higher brain functions is extremely important. The strict adherence of purely neurocentric ideas, deeply ingrained in the great majority of neuroscientists, remains a detriment to understanding normal and abnormal brain functions. By broadening brain information processing beyond neurons, progress in understanding higher level brain functions, as well as neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, will progress beyond the impasse that has been evident for decades. more...
- Published
- 2018
36. Para una reconsideración del legado de Ramón y Cajal a las neurociencias
- Author
-
Asier Arias Domínguez
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,neuron doctrine ,Context (language use) ,ley de la polarización dinámica ,neurohistología ,03 medical and health sciences ,Meaning (philosophy of language) ,History and Philosophy of Science ,neurohistology ,AZ20-999 ,ramón y cajal ,Sociology ,neurona ,Biological sciences ,History of medicine. Medical expeditions ,dynamic polarization law ,R131-687 ,Neuron doctrine ,Polarization (politics) ,Historiography ,neuron ,Epistemology ,030104 developmental biology ,Convergent and divergent production ,teoría neuronal ,History of scholarship and learning. The humanities ,Period (music) - Abstract
Between 1887 and 1897, Santiago Ramón y Cajal carried out a series of micrographic studies that would mark the debate about the structure and the physiology of the nervous system, establishing the theoretical framework for its study in the 20th century. The nature and meaning of the task undertaken by Cajal could not be fully weighed without a serious attempt to establish the pertinent links between such task, its antecedents and its contemporary context. To this end, the first and second sections address the scientific context in which, during the aforementioned period, Cajal elaborated the neuron doctrine and the dynamic polarization law, focusing on the convergent and divergent approaches of previous and contemporary researchers. The third section, on the other hand, is devoted to the discussion of the methodological framework of the formulation of the abovementioned contributions, avoiding recent attempts of historiographical controversy about its paternity and emphasizing that the core of Cajal’s legacy does not have to be sought in discussions of this nature, but in the wide body of observations he collected and, particularly, in the profusion of hypotheses he used in order to incardinate those contributions within the theoretical frameworks sanctioned in biological sciences., Entre 1887 y 1897 Santiago Ramón y Cajal realizó una serie de estudios micrográficos que jalonarían el debate acerca de la estructura y la fisiología del sistema nervioso al suministrar substrato empírico y guía heurística al marco teórico dentro del cual serían las mismas investigadas en lo sucesivo. El significado del trabajo realizado por Cajal en ese decenio no puede ponderarse sin un serio intento de establecer los pertinentes vínculos entre el mismo, sus antecedentes y su contexto contemporáneo. A tal fin, los apartados primero y segundo abordan el contexto científico en que Cajal elaborara en el periodo indicado la teoría neuronal y la ley de la polarización dinámica, prestando atención a planteamientos convergentes y divergentes de contemporáneos y antecesores. El tercero, por su parte, se dedica a la discusión del marco metodológico de la formulación de las señaladas aportaciones, soslayando recientes conatos de polémica historiográfica en torno a la paternidad de las mismas e incidiendo en que el núcleo del legado de Cajal no ha de buscarse en discusiones de esta naturaleza, sino en el amplio cuerpo de observaciones que recogiera y, muy particularmente, en la profusión de hipótesis mediante las cuales tratara de incardinarlo cabalmente en los marcos teóricos sancionados en ciencias biológicas. more...
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
37. A reconsideration of the legacy of Ramón y Cajal to the neurosciences
- Author
-
Arias Domínguez, Asier
- Subjects
neuron doctrine ,Ramón y Cajal ,lcsh:History of medicine. Medical expeditions ,neurohistology ,teoría neuronal ,lcsh:AZ20-999 ,neurona ,ley de la polarización dinámica ,neurohistología ,lcsh:History of scholarship and learning. The humanities ,lcsh:R131-687 ,neuron ,dynamic polarization law - Abstract
Between 1887 and 1897, Santiago Ramón y Cajal carried out a series of micrographic studies that would mark the debate about the structure and the physiology of the nervous system, establishing the theoretical framework for its study in the 20th century. The nature and meaning of the task undertaken by Cajal could not be fully weighed without a serious attempt to establish the pertinent links between such task, its antecedents and its contemporary context. To this end, the first and second sections address the scientific context in which, during the aforementioned period, Cajal elaborated the neuron doctrine and the dynamic polarization law, focusing on the convergent and divergent approaches of previous and contemporary researchers. The third section, on the other hand, is devoted to the discussion of the methodological framework of the formulation of the abovementioned contributions, avoiding recent attempts of historiographical controversy about its paternity and emphasizing that the core of Cajal’s legacy does not have to be sought in discussions of this nature, but in the wide body of observations he collected and, particularly, in the profusion of hypotheses he used in order to incardinate those contributions within the theoretical frameworks sanctioned in biological sciences. Entre 1887 y 1897 Santiago Ramón y Cajal realizó una serie de estudios micrográficos que jalonarían el debate acerca de la estructura y la fisiología del sistema nervioso al suministrar substrato empírico y guía heurística al marco teórico dentro del cual serían las mismas investigadas en lo sucesivo. El significado del trabajo realizado por Cajal en ese decenio no puede ponderarse sin un serio intento de establecer los pertinentes vínculos entre el mismo, sus antecedentes y su contexto contemporáneo. A tal fin, los apartados primero y segundo abordan el contexto científico en que Cajal elaborara en el periodo indicado la teoría neuronal y la ley de la polarización dinámica, prestando atención a planteamientos convergentes y divergentes de contemporáneos y antecesores. El tercero, por su parte, se dedica a la discusión del marco metodológico de la formulación de las señaladas aportaciones, soslayando recientes conatos de polémica historiográfica en torno a la paternidad de las mismas e incidiendo en que el núcleo del legado de Cajal no ha de buscarse en discusiones de esta naturaleza, sino en el amplio cuerpo de observaciones que recogiera y, muy particularmente, en la profusión de hipótesis mediante las cuales tratara de incardinarlo cabalmente en los marcos teóricos sancionados en ciencias biológicas. more...
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
38. Butterflies of the Soul: Cajal’s Neuron Theory and Art
- Author
-
Zwirn
- Subjects
Cognitive science ,Structure (mathematical logic) ,Neuron doctrine ,General Arts and Humanities ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Scientific discovery ,Subject (philosophy) ,General Medicine ,Visual phenomena ,Education ,Visual arts ,Perception ,Scientific observation ,Soul ,Psychology ,media_common - Abstract
Santiago Ramon y Cajal, a Spanish scientist (1852-1934), is considered the father of neuroscience. This article examines the role that his artistic techniques played in his development of neuron theory. Cajal’s ability to discover what is called neuron doctrine was facilitated by his and his disciples’ artful approach to drawing images seen through a microscope. They did not copy what they saw but used varied perceptual approaches to capture the nature and structure of neurons through drawing with diverse media. Cajal maintained that drawing not only disciplined the eye but was fundamental to scientific observation and understanding. Examples of these techniques are presented to assist educators in approaches to develop students’ perception of visual phenomena. An examination of Cajal’s approach to neuroscientific exploration provides illuminating exemplars for the study of visual phenomena. This subject is particularly timely now, when fMRI productions provide the ubiquitous images that guide most analyses of brain activity. Art integrated with science follow the tradition of great scientific discovery. more...
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
39. From the neuron doctrine to neural networks
- Author
-
Rafael Yuste
- Subjects
Cognitive science ,Neuron doctrine ,Artificial neural network ,Extramural ,General Neuroscience ,Mental disease ,Cognition ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,nervous system ,medicine ,Conceptual foundation ,Biological neural network ,Neuron ,Psychology ,Neuroscience - Abstract
For over a century, the neuron doctrine--which states that the neuron is the structural and functional unit of the nervous system--has provided a conceptual foundation for neuroscience. This viewpoint reflects its origins in a time when the use of single-neuron anatomical and physiological techniques was prominent. However, newer multineuronal recording methods have revealed that ensembles of neurons, rather than individual cells, can form physiological units and generate emergent functional properties and states. As a new paradigm for neuroscience, neural network models have the potential to incorporate knowledge acquired with single-neuron approaches to help us understand how emergent functional states generate behaviour, cognition and mental disease. more...
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
40. Neuroscience: The Study of the Nervous System & Its Functions
- Author
-
Fred H. Gage
- Subjects
Nervous system ,Neuron doctrine ,Human brain ,Biology ,Spinal cord ,Structure and function ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,nervous system ,History and Philosophy of Science ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,Peripheral nervous system ,Political Science and International Relations ,medicine ,Biological neural network ,Neuron ,Neuroscience ,Social Sciences (miscellaneous) - Abstract
Neuroscience is the scienti1⁄2c study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system) and its functions. The belief that the brain is the organ that controls behavior has an cient roots, dating to early civilizations that connected loss of function to damage to parts of the brain and spinal cord. But the modern era of neuroscience began–and continues to progress–with the development of tools, techniques, and methods used to measure in ever more detail and complexity the structure and function of the nervous system. The modern era of neuroscience can be traced to the 1890s, when the Spanish pathologist Santiago Ramon y Cajal used a method developed by the Italian physician Camillo Golgi to stain nerve tissues to visualize the morphology and structure of the neurons and their connections. The detailed de scription of the neurons and their connections by Cajal, his students, and their followers led to the “neuron doctrine,” which proposed that the neuron is the functional unit of the nervous system. We now know that the human brain contains ap proximately one hundred billion neurons and that these neurons have some one hundred trillion connections, forming functional and de1⁄2nable circuits. These neural circuits can be organized into larger more...
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
41. Evolutionary convergence and biologically embodied cognition
- Subjects
PERCEPTION ,early nervous system evolution ,minimal cognition ,INTELLIGENCE ,COMMUNICATION ,cognitive convergence ,NERVOUS SYSTEMS ,NETWORKS ,OUTPUT ,embodied cognition ,ORIGINS ,biological cognition ,NEURON DOCTRINE ,evolution of cognition ,ORGANISMS ,BEHAVIOR - Abstract
The study of evolutionary patterns of cognitive convergence would be greatly helped by a clear demarcation of cognition. Cognition is often used as an equivalent of mind, making it difficult to pin down empirically or to apply it confidently beyond the human condition. Recent developments in embodied cognition and philosophy of biology now suggest an interpretation that dissociates cognition from this mental context. Instead, it anchors cognition in a broad range of biological cases of intelligence, provisionally marked by a basic cognitive toolkit. This conception of cognition as an empirically based phenomenon provides a suitable and greatly expanded domain for studies of evolutionary convergence. This paper first introduces this wide, biologically embodied interpretation of cognition. Second, it discusses examples drawn from studies on bacteria, plants and fungi that all provide cases fulfilling the criteria for this wide interpretation. Third, the field of early nervous system evolution is used to illustrate how biologically embodied cognition raises new fundamental questions for research on animal cognition. Finally, an outline is given of the implications for the evolutionary convergence of cognition. more...
- Published
- 2017
42. What Is New With the Neuron Doctrine?
- Author
-
Dennis Jowaisas
- Subjects
Neuron doctrine ,Philosophy ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,Neuroscience ,General Environmental Science - Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
43. Signaling in the Brain: In Search of Functional Units
- Author
-
Rosa Cao
- Subjects
History ,Neuron doctrine ,Computer science ,business.industry ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Philosophy ,History and Philosophy of Science ,Action (philosophy) ,Artificial intelligence ,Function (engineering) ,business ,Neuroscience ,Process (anatomy) ,Brain function ,media_common - Abstract
What are the functional units of the brain? If the function of the brain is to process information-carrying signals, then the functional units will be the senders and receivers of those signals. Neurons have been the default candidate, with action potentials as the signals. But there are alternatives: synapses fit the action potential picture more cleanly, and glial activities (e.g., in astrocytes) might also be characterized as signaling. Are synapses or nonneuronal cells better candidates to play the role of functional units? Will informational signaling still be the best model for brain function if we move beyond the neuron doctrine? more...
- Published
- 2014
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
44. Emerging ideas and tools to study the emergent properties of the cortical neural circuits for voluntary motor control in non-human primates
- Author
-
John F. Kalaska
- Subjects
Primates ,Computer science ,Movement ,cortical control of movement ,Review ,Optogenetics ,dynamical neural networks ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Ca++ reporter optical imaging ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Motor system ,Biological neural network ,Animals ,General Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics ,Motor skill ,030304 developmental biology ,Neurons ,latent variables ,0303 health sciences ,Neuron doctrine ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,Motor Cortex ,Motor control ,Articles ,General Medicine ,Neurophysiology ,neural manifolds ,Electrodes, Implanted ,Action (philosophy) ,dimension reduction analysis ,Neuroscience ,representational models ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
For years, neurophysiological studies of the cerebral cortical mechanisms of voluntary motor control were limited to single-electrode recordings of the activity of one or a few neurons at a time. This approach was supported by the widely accepted belief that single neurons were the fundamental computational units of the brain (the “neuron doctrine”). Experiments were guided by motor-control models that proposed that the motor system attempted to plan and control specific parameters of a desired action, such as the direction, speed or causal forces of a reaching movement in specific coordinate frameworks, and that assumed that the controlled parameters would be expressed in the task-related activity of single neurons. The advent of chronically implanted multi-electrode arrays about 20 years ago permitted the simultaneous recording of the activity of many neurons. This greatly enhanced the ability to study neural control mechanisms at the population level. It has also shifted the focus of the analysis of neural activity from quantifying single-neuron correlates with different movement parameters to probing the structure of multi-neuron activity patterns to identify the emergent computational properties of cortical neural circuits. In particular, recent advances in “dimension reduction” algorithms have attempted to identify specific covariance patterns in multi-neuron activity which are presumed to reflect the underlying computational processes by which neural circuits convert the intention to perform a particular movement into the required causal descending motor commands. These analyses have led to many new perspectives and insights on how cortical motor circuits covertly plan and prepare to initiate a movement without causing muscle contractions, transition from preparation to overt execution of the desired movement, generate muscle-centered motor output commands, and learn new motor skills. Progress is also being made to import optical-imaging and optogenetic toolboxes from rodents to non-human primates to overcome some technical limitations of multi-electrode recording technology. more...
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
45. Cajal, Golgi, Nansen, Schäfer and the Neuron Doctrine
- Author
-
Ortwin Bock
- Subjects
Neurons ,Literature ,Neuron doctrine ,Creatures ,Famous Persons ,business.industry ,History, 19th Century ,History, 20th Century ,Biology ,Golgi apparatus ,Reticular theory ,humanities ,Nobel Prize ,Epistemology ,symbols.namesake ,History and Philosophy of Science ,symbols ,Humans ,Famous persons ,business - Abstract
The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine of 1906 was shared by the Italian Camillo Golgi and the Spaniard Santiago Ramón y Cajal for their contributions to the knowledge of the micro-anatomy of the central nervous system. In his Nobel Lecture, Golgi defended the going-out-of-favour Reticular Theory, which stated that the nerve cells--or neurons--are fused together to form a diffuse network. Reticularists like Golgi insisted that the axons physically join one nerve cell to another. In contrast, Cajal in his lecture said that his own studies confirmed the observations of others that the neurons are independent of one another, a fact which is the anatomical basis of the now-accepted Neuron Doctrine (Theory). This much is well documented. Less well known, however, is the fact that evidence against the Reticular Theory had been mounting for some time prior to the Nobel Lecture. The Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen had reported in 1887 that, in his studies of the primitive creatures he studied in the sea near Bergen, he found no connections between the processes of the ganglion cells in their nervous systems. Nor is it adequately appreciated that ten years earlier, in 1877, the Englishman Edward Schäfer had similarly described seeing no connections between the nerve elements in the mantles of the jellyfish. This paper begins by charting the research that led directly to the awarding of the 1906 Nobel Prize. It then shows that long before the ultimate vindication of the Neuron Doctrine, researchers in several countries had been accumulating evidence that undermined or contradicted the Reticular Theory. more...
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
46. Local gene expression in nerve endings
- Author
-
Antonio Giuditta, Carolina Cefaliello, Jong Tai Chun, Marianna Crispino, and Carla Perrone Capano
- Subjects
Messenger RNA ,Neuron doctrine ,Biology ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,nervous system ,Developmental Neuroscience ,Gene expression ,Axoplasmic transport ,medicine ,Axon ,Growth cone ,Free nerve ending ,Nucleus ,Neuroscience - Abstract
At the Nobel lecture for physiology in 1906, Ramon y Cajal famously stated that “the nerve elements possess reciprocal relationships in contiguity but not in continuity,” summing up the neuron doctrine. Sixty years later, by the time the central dogma of molecular biology formulated the axis of genetic information flow from DNA to mRNA, and then to protein, it became obvious that neurons with extensive ramifications and long axons inevitably incur an innate problem: how can the effect of gene expression be extended from the nucleus to the remote and specific sites of the cell periphery? The most straightforward solution would be to deliver soma-produced proteins to the target sites. The influential discovery of axoplasmic flow has supported this scheme of protein supply. Alternatively, mRNAs can be dispatched instead of protein, and translated locally at the strategic target sites. Over the past decades, such a local system of protein synthesis has been demonstrated in dendrites, axons, and presynaptic terminals. Moreover, the local protein synthesis in neurons might even involve intercellular trafficking of molecules. The innovative concept of glia-neuron unit suggests that the local protein synthesis in the axonal and presynaptic domain of mature neurons is sustained by a local supply of RNAs synthesized in the surrounding glial cells and transferred to these domains. Here, we have reviewed some of the evidence indicating the presence of a local system of protein synthesis in axon terminals, and have examined its regulation in various model systems. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 74: 279–291, 2014 more...
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
47. What nervous systems do: early evolution, input–output, and the skin brain thesis
- Author
-
Fred Keijzer, Pamela Lyon, Marc van Duijn, Theoretical Philosophy, Keijzer, Fred, van Duijn, Marc, and Lyon, Pamela
- Subjects
Nervous system ,Evolution of nervous systems ,Computer science ,Process (engineering) ,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology ,COMMUNICATION ,nervous systems ,JELLYFISH ,Behavioral Neuroscience ,EPITHELIAL CONDUCTION ,medicine ,Input/output ,Adaptive behavior ,Neuron doctrine ,ORIGIN ,ANIMALS ,Information processing ,nerve nets ,MODEL ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,embodied cognition ,Embodied cognition ,PRINCIPLES ,excitable media ,ADAPTIVE-BEHAVIOR ,Nervous systems ,early evolution ,NEURON DOCTRINE ,Neuroscience ,PATTERN-FORMATION - Abstract
Nervous systems are standardly interpreted as information processing input-output devices. They receive environmental information from their sensors as input, subsequently process or adjust this information, and use the result to control effectors, providing output. Through-conducting activity is here the key organizational feature of nervous systems. In this paper, we argue that this input-output interpretation is not the most fundamental feature of nervous system organization. Building on biological work on the early evolution of nervous systems, we provide an alternative proposal: the skin brain thesis (SBT). The SBT postulates that early nervous systems evolved to organize a new multicellular effector: muscle tissue, the primary source of animal motility. Early nervous systems provided a new way of inducing and coordinating self-organized contractile activity across an extensive muscle surface underneath the skin. The main connectivity in such nervous systems runs across a spread out effector and is transverse to sensor-effector signaling. The SBT therefore constitutes a fundamental conceptual shift in understanding both nervous system operation and what nervous systems are. Nervous systems are foremost spatial organizers that turn large multi-cellular animal bodies into dynamic self-moving units. At the end, we briefly discuss some theoretical connections to central issues within the behavioral, cognitive and neurosciences Refereed/Peer-reviewed more...
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
48. A more substantive neuron doctrine
- Author
-
Joe Y. F. Lau
- Subjects
Cognitive science ,Behavioral Neuroscience ,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,Neuron doctrine ,Physiology ,Conflation ,Psychology - Abstract
First, it is not clear from Gold & Stoljar's definition of biological neuroscience whether it includes computational and representational concepts. If so, then their evaluation of Kandel's theory is problematic. If not, then a more direct refutation of the radical neuron doctrine is available. Second, objections to the psychological sciences might derive not just from the conflation of the radical and the trivial neuron doctrines. There might also be the implicit belief that, for many mental phenomena, adequate theories must invoke neurophysiological concepts and cannot be purely psychological. more...
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
49. History of Astrocytes
- Author
-
Jacqueline A. Hubbard and Devin Binder
- Subjects
Neuron doctrine ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Cell theory ,medicine ,Neuroglia ,Biology ,Neuroscience - Abstract
In this introduction to the history of astrocytes, we (1) contextualize the evolution of the concept of neuroglia within the development of cell theory and the “neuron doctrine”; (2) explain how the concept of neuroglia arose and evolved; (3) provide an interesting overview of some of the investigators involved in defining the cell types in the central nervous system; (4) select the interaction of Wilder Penfield and Pio del Rio-Hortega for a more in-depth historical vignette portraying a critical period during which glial cell types were being identified, described, and separated; and (5) briefly summarize further developments that presaged the modern era of neuroglioscience. more...
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
50. Introduction: From Biological Experiments to Mathematical Models
- Author
-
Mihai A. Petrovici
- Subjects
symbols.namesake ,Neuron doctrine ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Mathematical model ,Computer science ,Synaptic interaction ,medicine ,symbols ,Biological neuron model ,Electrical synapse ,Neuron ,Golgi apparatus ,Neuroscience - Abstract
At first glance, scientists seem to have needed a surprisingly long amount of time to find the physical correlate of thought. While the brain itself, as an organ, has long been considered the seat of the mind,Notable exceptions include Aristotle, who believed it to be a blood-cooling device (Gross 1995). it was only at the turn of the 20th century that Cajal and Golgi established the “neuron doctrine” —the hypothesis that the neuron is the fundamental functional unit of the brain. more...
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
Discovery Service for Jio Institute Digital Library
For full access to our library's resources, please sign in.