Camillo Golgi

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Camillo Golgi
Born(1843-07-07)7 July 1843
Corteno, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, Italy
Died21 January 1926(1926-01-21) (aged 82)
Pavia, Italy
Alma materUniversity of Pavia
Known forGolgi's method
Golgi apparatus
Golgi tendon organ
Golgi cell
Golgi cycles
Reticular theory
Radial glial cell
Perineuronal net
AwardsNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1906)
Scientific career
FieldsPathology
Neuroscience
Doctoral advisorCesare Lombroso
Doctoral studentsAntonio Pensa

Camillo Golgi (Italian:

pathologist known for his works on the central nervous system. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia (where he later spent most of his professional career) between 1860 and 1868 under the tutelage of Cesare Lombroso. Inspired by pathologist Giulio Bizzozero, he pursued research in the nervous system. His discovery of a staining technique called black reaction (sometimes called Golgi's method or Golgi's staining in his honour) in 1873 was a major breakthrough in neuroscience. Several structures and phenomena in anatomy and physiology are named for him, including the Golgi apparatus, the Golgi tendon organ and the Golgi tendon reflex.[1]

Golgi and the Spanish biologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal were jointly given the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1906 "in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system".[2]

Biography

Camillo Golgi was born on 7 July 1843 in the village of Corteno near Brescia, in the

cholera epidemic in villages around Pavia.[4]

In 1867, he resumed his academic study under the supervision of

mental disorders, from which he obtained his M.D. in 1868.[5] He became more interested in experimental medicine, and started attending the Institute of General Pathology headed by Giulio Bizzozero. Three years his junior, Bizzozero was an eloquent teacher and experimenter, who specialised in histology of the nervous system and the properties of bone marrow. The most important research publications of Golgi were directly or indirectly influenced by Bizzozero. The two became so close that they lived in the same building; and Golgi later married Bizzozero's niece, Lina Aletti.[6] By 1872, Golgi was an established clinician and histopathologist. He, however, had no opportunity as a tenured professor in Pavia to pursue teaching and research in neurology.[5]

Financial pressure prompted him to join the Hospital of the Chronically Ill (Pio Luogo degli Incurabili) in

First World War (1914–1917), he directed the military hospital Collegio Borrmeo at Pavia. He retired in 1918 and continued to research in his private laboratory till 1923. He died on 21 January 1926.[5]

Personal life

Golgi and his wife Lina Aletti had no children, and they adopted Golgi's niece Carolina.[6]

Golgi was irreligious in his later life and became an agnostic atheist. One of his former students attempted an unsuccessful deathbed conversion on him.[9][10]

Contributions

Black reaction or Golgi's staining

The first illustration by Golgi of the nervous system. Vertical section of the olfactory bulb of a dog (in 1875).

The

dendrites, providing an exceedingly clear and well-contrasted picture of neuron against a yellow background. This makes it easier to trace the structure of the nerve cells in the brain for the first time.[6] Since cells are selective stained in black, he called the process la reazione nera ("the black reaction"), but today it is called Golgi's method or the Golgi stain.[11]
On 16 February 1873, he wrote to his friend Niccolò Manfredi:

I am delighted that I have found a new reaction to demonstrate, even to the blind, the structure of the interstitial stroma of the cerebral cortex.

His discovery was published in the Gazzeta Medica Italiani on 2 August 1873.[12]

Nervous system

Drawing by Camillo Golgi of a hippocampus stained with the silver nitrate method.

In 1871, a German anatomist

cerebellar cortex and olfactory bulb as independent of one another, his later works including the Nobel Lecture showed the entire granular layer of the cerebellar cortex occupied by a network of branching and anastomosing nerve processes. This was due to his strong conviction in the reticular theory.[15][13] Golgi's theory was challenged by Ramón y Cajal, who used the same technique developed by Golgi. According to Ramón y Cajal's neurone theory, the nervous system is but a collection of individual cells, the neurones, which are interconnected to form a network.[16]

In addition to this, Golgi was the first to give clear descriptions of the structure of the

mercuric chloride. Using this he discovered the myelin annular apparatus, often called the horny funnel of Golgi-Rezzonico.[5]

Kidney

Golgi studied kidney function during 1882 to 1889. In 1882, he published his observations on the mechanism of

nephrons, and show that the distal tubulus (loop of Henle) of the nephron returns to its originating glomerulus, a finding that he published in 1889 ("Annotazioni intorno all'Istologia dei reni dell'uomo e di altri mammifieri e sull'istogenesi dei canalicoli oriniferi". Rendiconti R. Acad. Lincei 5: 545–557, 1889).[18]

Malaria

A French Army physician

protozoan. From 1885, Golgi studied the malarial parasite and its transmission. He established two types of malaria, tertian and quartan fevers caused by Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malariae respectively.[19] In 1886, he discovered that malarial fever (paroxysm) was produced by the asexual stage in the human blood (called erythrocytic cycle, or Golgi cycle).[20] In 1889–1890, Golgi and Ettore Marchiafava described the differences between benign tertian malaria and malignant tertian malaria (the latter caused by P. falciparum). By 1898, along with Giovanni Battista Grassi, Amico Bignami, Giuseppe Bastianelli, Angelo Celli and Marchiafava, he confirmed that malaria was transmitted by Anopheline mosquito.[21]

Cell organelle

An organelle in eukaryotic cells now known as Golgi apparatus or Golgi complex, or sometimes simply as Golgi, was discovered by Camillo Golgi.[22] Golgi modified his black reaction using osmium dichromate solution with which he stained the nerve cells (Purkinje cells) of the cerebellum of a barn owl.[23] He noticed thread-like networks inside the cells and named them apparato reticolare interno (internal reticular apparatus). Recognising them to be unique cellular components, he presented his discovery before the Medical-Surgical Society of Pavia in April 1898.[24] After the same was confirmed by his assistant Emilio Veratti, he published it in the Bollettino della Società medico-chirurgica di Pavia.[25] However, most scientists disputed his discovery as nothing but a staining artefact. Their microscopes were not powerful enough to identify the organelles. By the 1930s, Golgi's description was largely rejected.[23] It was only firmly established 50 years after its discovery, when electron microscopes were developed.[26]

Awards and legacy

Golgi, together with

senator by King Umberto I.[27] In 1913 he became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[28] He received honorary doctorates from the University of Cambridge, University of Geneva, Kristiania University College, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and Paris-Sorbonne University. In 1994, the European Community commemorated him with postage stamps.[17]

Monuments in Pavia

Marble statue of Golgi at the University of Pavia
Camillo Golgi's house in Pavia

In Pavia several landmarks stand as Golgi's memory.

  • A marble statue, in a yard of the old buildings of the University of Pavia, at N.65 of the central "Strada Nuova". On the basement, there is the following inscription in Italian language: "Camillo Golgi / patologo sommo / della scienza istologica / antesignano e maestro / la segreta struttura / del tessuto nervoso / con intenta vigilia / sorprese e descrisse / qui operò / qui vive / guida e luce ai venturi / MDCCCXLIII – MCMXXVI" (Camillo Golgi / outstanding pathologist / of histological science / precursor and master / the secret structure / of the nervous tissue / with strenuous effort / discovered and described / here he worked / here he lives / here he guides and enlightens future scholars / 1843 – 1926).
  • "Golgi’s home", also in Strada Nuova, at N.77, a few hundreds meters away from the University, just in front to the historical "Teatro Fraschini". It is the home in which Golgi spent the most of his family life, with his wife Lina.
  • Golgi's tomb is in the Monumental Cemetery of Pavia (viale San Giovannino), along the central lane, just before the big monument to the fallen of the First World War. It is a very simple granite grave, with a bronze medallion representing the scientist's profile. Near Golgi's tomb, apart from his wife, two other important Italian medical scientists are buried: Bartolomeo Panizza and Adelchi Negri.
  • Golgi's museum was created in 2012, in the ancient Palazzo Botta of the University of Pavia at N.10 of Piazza Antoniotto Botta reconstructs the study of Camillo Golgi and its laboratories with furniture and original instruments.[29]

Eponyms

  • The organelle
    Golgi complex
  • The sensory receptor Golgi tendon organ
  • Golgi's method or Golgi stain, a nervous tissue staining technique
  • The enzyme
    Golgi alpha-mannosidase II
  • Golgi cells of the cerebellum
  • Golgi I
    nerve cells (with long axons)
  • Golgi II
    nerve cells (with short or no axons)
  • Golgi (crater), a lunar impact crater [30]
  • Minor planet
    6875 Golgi is named after him.[31]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-19-972969-2
    .
  2. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1906". www.nobelprize.org. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  3. ^ Cimino, Guido (2001). "GOLGI, Camillo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 57.
  4. doi:10.13128/IJAE-11658
    .
  5. ^
    PMID 11624293
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-12-385158-1
    .
  7. S2CID 7920555
    .
  8. ^ Zanobio, Bruno. "Camillo Golgi facts, information, pictures". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  9. ISBN 978-0-19-852444-1
    . It was probably during this period that Golgi became agnostic (or even frankly atheistic), remaining for the rest of his life completely alien to the religious experience.
  10. ^ Rapport, Richard L. Nerve Endings: The Discovery of the Synapse. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Print.
  11. PMID 16995603
    .
  12. PMID 25798090
    .
  13. ^ a b Marina Bentivoglio (20 April 1998). "Life and Discoveries of Camillo Golgi". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  14. PMID 11640243
    .
  15. S2CID 11871228
    .
  16. PMID 23870749
    .
  17. ^
    PMID 9489532
    .
  18. S2CID 29666037
    .
  19. ^ Golgi C. (1889). "Sul ciclo evolutivo dei parassiti malarici nella febbre terzana : diagnosi differenziale tra i parassiti endoglobulari malarici della terzana e quelli della quartana" [On the cycle of development of malarial parasites in tertian fever: differential diagnosis between the intracellular parasites of tertian and quartant fever]. Archivio per le Scienza Mediche. 13: 173–196.
  20. PMID 22550559
    .
  21. PMID 20205846
    .
  22. PMID 11624302
    .
  23. ^
    S2CID 36117803
    .
  24. S2CID 23309035
    .
  25. S2CID 9679562
    .
  26. S2CID 31879493
    .
  27. ^ GOLGI Camillo Archived 7 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Italian senate website
  28. ^ "C. Golgi (1844–1926)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  29. ^ Spizzi, Dante. "Museo Camillo Golgi". museocamillogolgi.unipv.eu (in Italian). Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  30. ^ "Golgi crater". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  31. ^ "(6875) Golgi = 1994 NG1 = 1934 QB = 1953 RK = 1977 DH2 = 1991 RT30 = 4643 T-1 = T/4643 T-1". Minor planet center.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Camillo Golgi.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Camillo_Golgi&oldid=1216653132"