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THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEURON

While the Author is clearly a neuroscientist as shown by his common usage of terms and cells that would confound most, his blog deals more with the history behind modern neuroscience than actual practice or research. It begins when there were two conflicting views on how the nervous system was structured and extends into the early 1900s, laying the foundation for modern neuroscience.

The most notable discoveries made in Neuroscience began in the 1820s. When “acromatic lenses” were developed, it greatly advanced this particular scientific field. Scientists such as Purkinje were now able to view nervous tissue on a molecular level. Purkinje made many notable discoveries such as “ dopaminergic midbrain neurons (which we now know degenerate in Parkinson's Disease) synthesize melanin…germinal vesicles, sweat glands in the epidermis, and the fibres in the heart which conduct electrical impulses (now known as Purkinje fibres). He also discovered that fingerprints could be used as a means of identification.” However, with all of these discoveries, Purkinje is most famous for his discovery of the cerebellar cells. Next comes a man by the name of Otto Friedrich Carl Dieters who produced the most accurate description (at that time) of a nerve cell complete with axon and dendrites. Although his observations were important, he was hindered by technology. Some of his theories would prove to be wrong only because he was unable to see everything that was there. The next major player in the game is Golgi. Golgi developed a new method of staining that allowed for a better observation of neurons in their entirety. Golgi still formulated the wrong conclusion from his observations. He thought that they confirmed the hypothesis that the nervous system consisted of a continuous network.” By 1873, Golgi published a paper that contained the descriptions of hippocampal and cerebellar tissue. Golgi also discovered things like “the identification of projection neurons, interneurons and tendon organ…the Plasmodium life cycle that took place in red blood cells, and correlated the fever and chills… [and] the "internal reticular apparatus".” Lastly, the author talks about Cajal. Cajal perfected Golgi’s staining methods, to view tissue in greater detail. Cajal’s discoveries were incredibly important, but he was isolated from the scientific community because he spoke Spanish. One of his most important discoveries was that each "nervous element [neuron] is an absolutely autonomous unit." He later traveled to Berlin to show his discoveries to the German Anatomical Society. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology with Golgi in 1906. In concluding his article, the author makes a very interesting statement, “Ultimately, the limitations of technology will always hinder the advancement of scientific knowledge.” While this is certainly evident, doesn’t science also progress technology? Overall, I find the field of neuroscience intriguing, but confusing at the same time.