Sherrington, Sir Charles Scott

Sherrington, Sir Charles Scott
born Nov. 27, 1857, London, Eng.
died March 4, 1952, Eastbourne, Sussex

English physiologist.

By studying animals whose cerebral cortexes had been removed, he showed that reflexes are integrated activities of the total organism, not based on isolated "reflex arcs." Sherrington's law states that when one set of muscles is stimulated, muscles opposing their action are inhibited. He showed that the role of proprioception in reflexes that maintain upright posture against gravity is independent of cerebral function and skin sensation. His work influenced the development of brain surgery and treatment of nervous disorders, and he coined the terms neuron and synapse. His classic work is The Integrative Action of the Nervous System (1906). In 1932 he shared a Nobel Prize with Edgar Adrian (1889–1977).

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▪ British physiologist
born Nov. 27, 1857, London, Eng.
died March 4, 1952, Eastbourne, Sussex

      English physiologist whose 50 years of experimentation laid the foundations for an understanding of integrated nervous function in higher animals and brought him (with Edgar Adrian (Adrian, Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron)) the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1932.

      Sherrington was educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (B.A., 1883); at St. Thomas' Hospital Medical School, where he qualified in medicine in 1885; and at the University of Berlin, where he worked with Rudolf Virchow and Robert Koch. After serving as a lecturer at St. Thomas' Hospital, he was successively a professor at the universities of London (1891–95), Liverpool (1895–1913), and Oxford (1913–35). He was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1893 and served as its president from 1920 to 1925. He was knighted in 1922.

      Working with cats, dogs, monkeys, and apes that had been deprived of their cerebral hemispheres, Sherrington found that reflexes must be regarded as integrated activities of the total organism, not as the result of the activities of isolated “reflex arcs,” a notion that was currently accepted. The first major piece of evidence supporting “total integration” was his demonstration (1895–98) of the “reciprocal innervation” of muscles, also known as Sherrington's law: when one set of muscles is stimulated, muscles opposing the action of the first are simultaneously inhibited.

      In his classic work, The Integrative Action of the Nervous System (1906), he distinguished three main groups of sense organs: exteroceptive, such as those that detect light, sound, odour, and tactile stimuli; interoceptive, exemplified by taste receptors; and proprioceptive, or those receptors that detect events occurring in the interior of the organism. He found—especially in his study of the maintenance of posture as a reflex activity—that the muscles' proprioceptors and their nerve trunks play an important role in reflex action, maintaining the animal's upright stance against the force of gravity, despite the removal of the cerebrum and the severing of the tactile sensory nerves of the skin.

      His investigations of nearly every aspect of mammalian nervous function have directly influenced the development of brain surgery and the treatment of such nervous disorders as paralysis and atrophy. Sherrington also coined the terms neuron and synapse to denote the nerve cell and the point at which the nervous impulse is transmitted from one nerve cell to another, respectively. His books include The Reflex Activity of the Spinal Cord (1932).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Sherrington , Sir Charles Scott — (1857–1952) British physiologist Sherrington, a Londoner by birth, was educated at Cambridge University and St. Thomas s Hospital, London, gaining his BA in natural science in 1883 and his MB in 1885. He then traveled to Europe to study under… …   Scientists

  • Sherrington, sir Charles Scott — ► (1857 1952) Médico británico. Fue premio Nobel de Medicina y Fisiología en 1932, compartido con E. D. Adrian, por sus trabajos sobre el funcionalismo neuronal. * * * (27 nov. 1857, Londres, Inglaterra–4 mar. 1952, Eastbourne, Sussex). Fisiólogo …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Sir Charles Scott Sherrington — noun English physiologist who conducted research on reflex action (1857 1952) • Syn: ↑Sherrington • Instance Hypernyms: ↑physiologist …   Useful english dictionary

  • Charles Scott Sherrington — Sir Charles Scott Sherrington Born 27 November 1857(1857 11 27) Islington …   Wikipedia

  • Charles Scott Sherrington — Charles Smart Roy und Charles Scott Sherrington (rechts), am Eingang zum alten pathologischen Institut in Cambridge 1893. Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (* 27. November 1857 in London; † 4. März 1952 in Eastbourne, Sussex) war ein britischer… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Charles Scott Sherrington — Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, GBE (n. Londres, 27 de noviembre de 1857 † Eastbourne, 4 de marzo de 1952) fue un médico neurofisiólogo británico, premio Nobel de Medicina, que estudió las funciones de la corteza cerebral. Estudió medicina en la… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Charles Scott Sherrington — Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (n. Londres, 27 de noviembre de 1857 † Eastbourne, 4 de marzo de 1952). Médico británico Estudió medicina en la Universidad de Cambridge, licenciándose en 1885. Posteriormente amplió sus estudios en Berlín con Robert …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Charles Scott Sherrington — Portrait de Charles Scott Sherrington. Photo prise en année inconnue, elle provient de la United States National Library of Medicine. Sir Charles Scott Sherrington OM, GBE, né le 27 novembre 1857 dans le district d Islington de Londres… …   Wikipédia en Français

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