Golgi, Camillo

Golgi, Camillo
born July 7, 1843/44, Corteno, Italy
died Jan. 21, 1926, Pavia

Italian physician and cytologist.

He devised a way to stain nerve tissue and with it discovered a neuron, now called the Golgi cell, that has many short, branching extensions (dendrites) and connects other neurons. This led to identification of the neuron as the basic structural unit of the nervous system. He also discovered the Golgi tendon organ (the point at which sensory nerve fibres branch out within a tendon) and the Golgi apparatus (a cell organelle that packages large molecules for transport). He shared a 1906 Nobel Prize with Santiago Ramón y Cajal (b. 1852
d. 1934).

Golgi, 1906

By courtesy of the Wellcome Trustees

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▪ Italian physician and cytologist
born July 7, 1843/44, Corteno, Italy
died Jan. 21, 1926, Pavia
 Italian physician and cytologist whose investigations into the fine structure of the nervous system earned him (with the Spanish histologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Ramón y Cajal, Santiago)) the 1906 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

      As a physician at a home for incurables in Abbiategrasso, Italy (1872–75), and with only rudimentary facilities at his disposal, Golgi devised (1873) the silver nitrate method of staining nerve tissue, an invaluable tool in subsequent nerve studies. This stain enabled him to demonstrate the existence of a kind of nerve cell (which came to be known as the Golgi cell) possessing many short, branching extensions (dendrites) and serving to connect several other nerve cells. The discovery of Golgi cells led the German anatomist Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz to postulate, and Ramón y Cajal to establish, that the nerve cell (neuron) is the basic structural unit of the nervous system, a critical point in the development of modern neurology.

 After his arrival at the University of Pavia (1875), Golgi found and described (1880) the point (now known as the Golgi tendon spindle or Golgi tendon organ) at which sensory nerve fibres end in rich branchings encapsulated within a tendon. He also discovered (1883) the presence in nerve cells of an irregular network of fibrils (small fibres), vesicles (cavities), and granules, now known as the Golgi complex or Golgi apparatus. The Golgi complex is found in all cells except bacteria and plays an important role in the modification and transport of proteins within the cell.

      Turning to the study of malaria (1885–93), Golgi found that the two types of intermittent malarial fevers (tertian, occurring every other day, and quartan, occurring every third day) are caused by different species of the protozoan parasite Plasmodium and that the paroxysms of fever coincide with release of the parasite's spores from red blood cells.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Golgi, Camillo — Médico patólogo e histólogo italiano nacido en 1843. Describió el orgánulo celular que se denominó posteriormente con su nombre e inventó un método de tinción específico para las células nerviosas. En 1906 recibió el premio Nobel de Medicina y… …   Diccionario médico

  • GOLGI Camillo — (1843 1926) (retrato) [véase http://www.iqb.es/historiamedicina/personas/golgi.htm]: Patólogo italiano que realizó importantes descubrimientos sobre la estructura y función de células nerviosas. Inventó la tinción que lleva su nombre a base de… …   Diccionario médico

  • Golgi, Camillo — (1843–1926)    Born in the small mountain village of Corteno, near Brescia (Lombardy), Camillo Golgi won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1906 (the same year Giosue Carducci won the literature prize). Golgi studied at the University of Pavia in the …   Historical Dictionary of modern Italy

  • Golgi, Camillo — (7 jul. 1843/44, Corteno, Italia–21 ene. 1926, Pavía). Médico y citólogo italiano. Ideó una forma de teñir el tejido nervioso con lo que descubrió una neurona, denominada actualmente célula de Golgi, que posee numerosas extensiones cortas… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Golgi , Camillo — (1843–1926) Italian cytologist and histologist Born at Corteno near Brescia (now in Italy), Golgi studied medicine at Pavia University and thereafter mainly concerned himself with research on cells and tissues. In 1873, while serving as physician …   Scientists

  • Golgi,Camillo — Gol·gi (gōlʹjē), Camillo. 1844? 1926. Italian histologist. He shared a 1906 Nobel Prize for research on the structure of the nervous system. * * * …   Universalium

  • Golgi — Camillo …   Scientists

  • Golgi — Camillo Golgi Camillo Golgi (* 7. Juli 1843 oder 1844 in Corteno Golgi, Brescia, Italien; † 21. Januar 1926 in Pavia, Italien) war ein italienischer Mediziner und Physiologe. Er erhielt den Nobelpreis für Medizin im Jahr 1906 gemeinsam mit …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Camillo Golgi — Naissance 7 juillet 1843 Corteno, Lombardie (Italie) Décès 21 janvier 1926 Pavie ( …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Camillo Golgi — Bartolomeo Camillo Golgi Nacimiento 7 de julio de …   Wikipedia Español

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