The anatomy of the brain – learned over the centuries

This article reports the evolution and consolidation of the knowledge of neuroanatomy through the analysis of its history. Thus, we propose to describe in a historical review to summarize the main theories and concepts that emerged throughout brain anatomy history and understand how the socio-historical context can reflect on the nature of scientific knowledge. Therefore, among the diverse scientists, anatomists, doctors, and philosophers who were part of this history, there was a strong influence of the studies of Claudius Galen (AD 129–210), Leonardo da Vinci (1452– 1519), Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564), Franciscus Sylvius (1614–1672), Luigi Rolando (1773–1831), Pierre Paul Broca (1824–1880), Carl Wernicke (1848–1905), Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918), Wilder Penfield (1891–1976), Mahmut Gazi Yasargil (1925), and Albert Loren Rhoton Jr. (1932–2016) on the fundamentals of neuroanatomy.

Von der anatomischen Lehrsektion zum Unterricht am Krankenbett – eine geschichtliche Würdigung

ZusammenfassungZu allen Zeiten waren die Anatomen bemüht, der Medizin wissenschaftliche Grundlagen zu vermitteln. Der Anatom hat den toten Körper zergliedert, um damit den Lebenden zu dienen. Das Verständnis physiologischer und pathophysiologischer Prozesse setzt die Kenntnis der Anatomie voraus. Im Corpus Hippocraticum findet man keinen sicheren Hinweis auf die Durchführung menschlicher Sektionen. In Alexandria wurde um 300 vor Christus zum ersten Mal Anatomie an der menschlichen Leiche gelehrt. Mehr als 1300 Jahre standen die Anatomie und die Heilkunde dann unter dem Einfluss des Galen von Pergamon (131–201 n. Chr.). Der Italiener Mondino dei Luzzi (1275–1326) war der Erste, der den systematischen Anatomieunterricht unter regelmäßiger Einbeziehung von Lehrsektionen in den Lehrbetrieb in Bologna eingeführt hat. Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) aus Belgien hat in der Neuzeit die wissenschaftlich fundierte Humananatomie begründet und viele Fehler der von Galen tradierten Ansichten der Anatomie korrigiert. Im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert waren die niederländischen Universitäten, allen voran die Universität in Leiden, führend im Hinblick auf die klinische und praktische Studentenausbildung.

Study of adrenal morphology fromantiquity to the present day

The analysis of scientific literature shows that the study of adrenal morphology in humans and animals is an urgent problem of biology and medicine from ancient times to the present day. In the historical aspect, we can distinguish three stages of studying the adrenal gland that differ in the directions of research. The first stage corresponds to the research of scientists of the XVI–XVIII centuries (Bartolomeo Eustachio, Andreas Vesalius, Gabriele Folloppio, Girolamo Fabrici, Andriaan Spieghel, Johann Vesling, Giulia Casseria, Caspar Bauhin, Johann Grafenberg, Caspar Bartholin, Thomas Bartholin, Giulio Casserio, Antonio Molinetti, Jean Riolan, Thomas Wharton, Giovanni Lancisi, Jakob Winslow, Antony Valsalva, Albrecht Haller, Johann Meckel, Jean Senac, Armand Cassan). Their works is devoted to the study of topography, macroscopic structure and function of the adrenal gland. Studies of morphological scientists of the second stage (late XVIII – mid XX century) correspond to the study of the structure of the adrenal gland at the microscopic level. Scientists like Albert Kelliker, Johann Ecker, Thomas Addison, Gabriel Colin, Alfred Kohn and Jay Arnold used histological and histochemical research methods. Edward Schafer, George Oliver, Vladislav Szymonowicz, John Abel, Jokiti Takmine, Welter Cannon, Edward Kendall to the study of the features of adrenal hormone secretion. Scientific works of the mid-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries can be combined in the third stage of research on the morphology of the adrenal gland. It is devoted to solving issues related to the formation of the adrenal gland in the process of filogenesis and ontogenesis, the features of the structure and function of the organ in normal and pathological conditions. A significant contribution to the study of the morphology of the adrenal gland of animals at the third stage was made by such scientists as Ziyade A. M., Dardykina O. N., Harina V. V., Atagimov M. Z., Torguj P. M., Antipin I. A., Shishkin A. P., Volkova M. V., Shevchenko L. F., Sidorova O. G., Vovchenko M. B., Salekh M. M., Ovcharenko N. D., Zaika S. V., Samatova I. M., Gorbacheva E. S., Pronin V. V., Kuznecov A. V., Pashinin N. S., Strel’nikova I. G., Barvenko A. D., Fedotov D. N., Izatulin A. V., Kvarackheliya A. G., Silkina A. V., Muhametov A. I. Among the studies of morphologists of the third period, the method of electron microscopy prevails.

A life dedicated to medicine

The article discusses the work of the founder of modern anatomy Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) on the culmination of his scientific and pedagogical activity - the work "De humani corporis fabrica", the historical conditions in which this book was written, and the difficulties created by the classical anatomy of Galen. It is noted that the work of Vesalius played an important role not only in the development of anatomy and medicine but in general in the formation and development of universal human innovative ideas. Unlike his predecessors, Vesalius preferred the method of dissection in anatomy; the study of anatomy on human cadavers, often contrary to the laws of that time, the explanation of the details of the subject precisely on cadaveric material, of course, could not fail to bear fruit. Along with this, it is noted that Vesalius was a skilled physician and surgeon of his time. Putting forward the functional factor in the study of organs, Vesalius achieved more voluminous and versatile scientific details. Throughout his career, Vesalius fought against the negative manifestation of Galen's ideas, which turned into medical dogma and achieved a detailed correction of about 200 Galen's mistakes. Of course, this was not positively received from the conservative-reactionary and very influential scientific circles, scientific and pedagogical activities, as well as the very existence of Vesalius simply as a person, was attacked. As a person who dedicated his life entirely to medicine and anatomy, Vesalius eventually fell victim to these conservative forces. Analysis of modern literary data on the main work of Vesalius shows that his scientific and pedagogical legacy still needs to be studied and discussed.

Stages of development of cardiology as an independent branch of medical science

Cardiology (from the Greek. καρδία-heart and λογος-study) is an extensive branch of medicine that deals with the study of the human cardiovascular system. Cardiology is believed to have originated in Ancient Egypt around 3000 BC. Hippocrates first describes the structure of the heart as a muscular organ. Harvey was the first to experimentally prove the existence of blood circulation. Andreas Vesalius created the basic prerequisites for the subsequent discovery of pulmonary circulation. Malpighi published the results of observations on the structure of the lung, for the first time gave a description of capillary vessels. For the first time, the Italian researcher Gaspar Azeli reported on lymphatic vessels and their connection with blood vessels. Purkinje published research on specific muscle fibers that conduct arousal through the heart (Purkinje fibers), which initiated the study of its conducting system. Thanks to all these fundamental discoveries, by the beginning of the XIX century, cardiology had become an independent branch of medicine, which has its own methods of diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

The History of Syphilis in The XVI Century and The Pivotal Role of Luigi Luigini in the Renaissance

Syphilis is the prime example of a “new disease” which triggered a transnational (European) discussion among physicians. It appeared between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Times (at the beginning of the sixteenth century), a time in which medicine was changing from a dogmatic to an experimental discipline. The main changes were in the field of anatomy: in 1543, the same year of the astronomy-disrupting work by Nicolas Copernicus, the new less dogmatic and more empirical approach to anatomy by Andreas Vesalius was published. Nevertheless, in the Renaissance, medicine remains a tradition-bound discipline, proud of its millennial history and its superiority over the empirical, non-academic healers. When syphilis appeared in Europe, several explanations were elaborated. In the mid-16th century, an Italian doctor Luigi Luigini (born in 1526) published in Venice a collection of all the works on syphilis that appeared until 1566. He wanted to entrust to colleagues, contemporary and future, a compendium of all that was known about the “new” disease (the Latin term Novus means both “new” and “strange”). According to the most authors of the collection, the disease is in fact “new” and “strange”. Some authors of the collection find it impossible that authorities like Hippocrates and Galen overlooked it. Luigini’s work shows the authors’ effort to absorb syphilis in the corpus of academic medicine and affirm the authority of academic physicians against the empirical healers.

The autonomic nervous system in the era of Andrei Vesalius

Andreas Vesalius was a reformer not only in the field of anatomy, but also in the field of practical medicine. Vesalius was the first to decide to fight against blind faith in authority, he was the first to attack superstitions at their very core and was the inborn enemy of all charlatanism and its followers.