The Neurophysiological Aspects of Pavlov’s Theory of Higher Nervous Activity: In Honor of the 150th Anniversary of Pavlov’s Birth

Whereas Ivan P. Pavlov (1849-1936) is well-known for his work on classical conditioning, his contribution to neuroscience, particularly his interest in the function of neural centers in the central nervous system, is not as widely known. During the last three decades of his life, Pavlov explored cortical processes by salivary reflex conditioning, a method he used to develop his theory of higher nervous activity. This theory outlined the function of the brain in higher organisms in their interaction with the changing environmental contingencies. As early as 1908, Pavlov outlined a neurophysiological theory as the physiological basis of his theory of higher nervous activity. He maintained that the neural processes of excitation and inhibition irradiate and concentrate among the cortical neural centers. Most of all, he emphasized the plasticity of the cortex in higher organisms’ in the Darwinian struggle for existence.     

I.m. Sechenov: the patriarch of Russian physiology

Using quotations from Russian (e.g., Mechnikov and Pavlov) and western European (e.g., Ludwig) sources of his friends and colleagues, as well as from his autobiography, this paper describes the life and personality of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov (1829-1905), who became well known because of his central inhibition theory (1862). He trained in several European centers, including Vienna, were he worked with Carl Ludwig (1816-1895), with whom he corresponded for several decades.     

Cortical epileptogenesis and David Ferrier

There was an increasing medical interest in the localization of representation of function in the cerebral cortex after Broca in 1861 identified a cortical area that appeared responsible for expressive speech. By the late 1860s, John Hughlings Jackson—based on clinico-pathological correlations mainly in persons with focal motor seizures—had reasoned that contralateral somatic motor function was represented in another area of the cortex. This localization was supported by Fritsch and Hitzig (1870) in experimental cortical stimulation studies in dogs. These authors also reported producing events resembling contralateral motor convulsing in their animals. Their work, and Jackson’s ideas, prompted David Ferrier, in Great Britain, to begin a program of cerebral cortical stimulation studies in various vertebrate species, trying to locate cortical sites of representation of functions other than expressive speech and motor activity. In his initial report of his investigations (1873), he noted that appropriately sited Faradic stimulation evoked immediate or delayed contralateral focal motor seizures, some of which evolved into generalized convulsions. On this basis he reasoned that focal motor and generalized seizures were expressions of the same disorder; that nearly all epilepsies originated in the cerebral cortex and not in the lower brain stem, as hitherto thought; and that the clinical pattern of epileptic seizure phenomenology depended on the function of the cortical site of origin and the extent and direction of spread of seizure activity in the brain. He not only provided experimental verification for Jackson’s reasoning about epileptic seizure mechanisms but expressed the ideas a good deal more clearly than Jackson ever managed to do. Ferrier’s achievement in this regard has tended to escape notice, lost sight of because of the great importance of his investigations into localization of cerebral function.     

Brown-Séquard and his syndrome

The contributions of Charles Edouard Brown-Séquard (1817-1894) to the advancement of medical science included his emphasis on functional processes in the integrative action of the nervous system, his discovery of the vasomotor nerves, his experimental demonstration that the adrenal glands are esential to life, and his pioneering work on hormone replacement therapy. He is best remembered, however, for his work in delineating the sensory pathways in the spinal cord. His later work on the sensory function of the cord emphasized dynamic spinal mechanisms that may well have major implications for the rehabilitation of patients with cord injuries.     

Pavlov and Cajal: Two different pathways to a Nobel Prize

Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) and Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934) were two contemporary scientists who not only had a great impact on Russian and Spanish science but also on the international stage. Both shared several common features in their life and work, yet they followed fundamentally different paths during their training as scientists. While Pavlov received his laboratory training under the guidance of Ilya Tsion (1843–1912), Cajal did not receive any formal training within a particular laboratory nor did he have a mentor in the traditional sense, rather he was mainly self-taught, although he was supported by key figures like Maestre de San Juan (1828–1890) and Luis Simarro (1851–1921). In this article, we compare the scientific training of these two Nobel Prize laureates and the influences they received during their scientific lives.     

The Legacy of Camillo Golgi for Modern Concepts of Brain Organization

The experimental advance made by Camillo Golgi's ‘black reaction’ has been universally recognized as the start of the modern revolution in the study of the nervous system. By contrast, his concepts of nervous organization, particularly his support for the idea of a ‘nervous reticulum’, have been universally rejected. The premise of the present paper is that the ideas of a biologist of this stature deserve re-examination. Golgi's arguments for considering the holistic function of the brain seem to come from his experience as a physician, and presage the views of the gestaltists and, more recently, the conceptual underpinnings of artificial neural networks. His interest in the possible nutritional roles of neuronal dendrites can be seen to anticipate current investigations, at the cellular level, of the metabolic basis of brain imaging. These and other currents in Golgi's thought deserve further study.     

„… daß Sie Ihre Tätigkeit einstellen müssen”︁: Die Entlassung Sergej Tschachotins aus dem Heidelberger Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut 1933

“…that you must have to stop working here.” How Sergej Chakhotin was forced to leave the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute at Heidelberg in 1933. - In this essay the author presents some basically unpublished material according to the dismissal of the Russian natural scientist Sergej Chakhotin, a former assistant of I. P. Pavlov. Chakhotin, who got a sholarship granted by an American institution, worked since 1930 at the newly established Kaiser Wilhelm Institute at Heidelberg, as a scientist. Moreover, he practically engaged himself in the political struggle of the German Social Democrats against Nazism and, in 1932, created the at that time well-known symbol of the Three Arrows. But he was - being a Soviet citizen - a guest in Germany. His political activity was the very reason for his discharge in April, 1933, and even the engagement of some prominent academic collegues was not able to stop the administration measure. So Chakhotin became a political refugee like some of his German collegues.     

The loyal dissident: N.A. Bernstein and the double-edged sword of Stalinism

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bernstein (1896-1966) studied movement in order to understand the brain. Contra Pavlov, he saw movements (thus, the brain) as coordinated. For Bernstein, the cortex was a stochastic device; the more cortexes an animal species has, the more variable its actions will be. Actions are planned with a stochastic "model of the future," and relevance is established through blind mathematical search. In the 1950 neoPavlovian affair, he came under strong attack and had to stop experimenting. It is argued that the consistency of his work derived both from both dialectical materialism and the relentless attacks of the neoPavlovians.     

The origin of the term plasticity in the neurosciences: Ernesto Lugaro and chemical synaptic transmission

The Italian psychiatrist Ernesto Lugaro can be regarded as responsible for introducing the term plasticity into the neurosciences as early as 1906. By this term he meant that throughout life the anatomo-functional relations between neurons can change in an adaptive fashion to enable psychic maturation, learning, and even functional recovery after brain damage. Lugaro's concept of plasticity was strongly inspired by a neural hypothesis of learning and memory put forward in 1893 by his teacher Eugenio Tanzi. Tanzi postulated that practice and experience promote neuronal growth and shorten the minute spatial gaps between functionally associated neurons, thus facilitating their interactions. In addition to discovering the cerebellar cells known by his name and advancing profound speculations about the functions of the glia, Lugaro lucidly foresaw the chemical nature of synaptic transmission in the central nervous system, and was the first to propose the usage of the terms "nervous conduction" and "nervous transmission" in their currently accepted meaning.     

The Origin of the Term Plasticity in the Neurosciences: Ernesto Lugaro and Chemical Synaptic Transmission

The Italian psychiatrist Ernesto Lugaro can be regarded as responsible for introducing the term plasticity into the neurosciences as early as 1906. By this term he meant that throughout life the anatomo-functional relations between neurons can change in an adaptive fashion to enable psychic maturation, learning, and even functional recovery after brain damage. Lugaro’s concept of plasticity was strongly inspired by a neural hypothesis of learning and memory put forward in 1893 by his teacher Eugenio Tanzi. Tanzi postulated that practice and experience promote neuronal growth and shorten the minute spatial gaps between functionally associated neurons, thus facilitating their interactions. In addition to discovering the cerebellar cells known by his name and advancing profound speculations about the functions of the glia, Lugaro lucidly foresaw the chemical nature of Synaptic transmission in the central nervous system, and was the first to propose the usage of the terms “nervous conduction” and “nervous transmission” in their currently accepted meaning.     

The legacy of Camillo Golgi for modern concepts of brain organization

The experimental advance made by Camillo Golgi's 'black reaction' has been universally recognized as the start of the modern revolution in the study of the nervous system. By contrast, his concepts of nervous organization, particularly his support for the idea of a 'nervous reticulum', have been universally rejected. The premise of the present paper is that ideas of a biologist of this stature deserve re-examination. Golgi's arguments for considering the holistic function of the brain seem to come from his experience as a physician, and presage the views of the gestaltists and, more recently, the conceptual underpinnings of artificial neural networks. His interest in the possible nutritional roles of neuronal dendrites can be seen to anticipate current investigations, at the cellular level, of the metabolic basis of brain imaging. These and other currents in Golgi's thought deserve further study.     

The impossible interview with the man of the neuron doctrine. Interview by Edward G Jones

This paper follows the form of that by Mazzarello that precedes it (Mazzarello, 2006) and presents an imaginary interview with Santiago Ramón y Cajal in December 1906. A few days earlier Cajal had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, an award that he shared equally with Professor Camillo Golgi. Golgi had been recognized for his work as a pioneer into investigations of the nervous system, primarily on account of his discovery of the "black reaction" of silver chromate impregnation of whole nerve cells and their processes. Cajal had been recognized for his implementation of that method and for laying with it the foundations of what was to become modern neuroanatomical science. Paradoxically, the two awardees had been led by their researches to diametrically opposed views of the organization of the nervous system. Golgi believed in a continuous network of axons that formed the basis of all the integrative properties of the nervous system, while Cajal had provided the information that led to the formulation of the neuron doctrine that saw the nervous system as being made up of chains of discontinuous cells joined by polarized functional contacts that we now call synapses. The paper takes the form of an interview with Professor Cajal in the Grand Hotel Stockholm. His responses to questions posed by the imaginary interviewer are all taken from Cajal's own writings.     

Shopping with Karl: Commodity Fetishism and the Materiality of Marx’s London

Scholars have postulated that commodity fetishism represents Marx’s theory of capitalist materiality, but the content of that theory is contested. I offer an archaeology of Marx’s material world in order to understand the development of the concept. During his time in London, Marx wrote and published Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (1867), in which he outlined the concept of commodity fetishism. I demonstrate that he formed his analysis of commodity fetishism from daily practices including shopping, and consuming tobacco, in combination with his research at the British Museum. I take an experiential approach to archaeology that foregrounds Marx living in a world of objects, and posit a relationship between his experiences and his understanding of commodities. In so doing, I show how Marx’s “everyday life” shaped his concept of commodity fetishism, and how this concept could be useful to historical archaeologists.     

Brown-Séquard's theory of recovery

Charles Edouard Brown-Séquard used observation of recovered patients and experimental animals to support his theory of cerebral localization. Recovery theories assume that the nervous system is composed of one organ or many, and that each organ has one function or many. From his own studies as well as others, Brown-Séquard concluded that the brain contained at least nine separate organs, each with a single distinct function, and that each organ is organized, not as a geographically isolated cluster of neurons, but as a widely disseminated network. According to his view, function is not uniformly distributed in an organ. Focal necrosis of part of an organ temporarily inhibits the action of distant, undamaged parts; resolution of this inhibition results in recovery. Using this theory of cerebral localization and recovery, Brown-Séquard practiced an early form of scientific neurology.     

Gall’s German enemies

ABSTRACT

Franz Joseph Gall’s (1758–1828) proposal for a new theory about how to represent the mental faculties is well known. He replaced the traditional perception-judgement-memory triad of abstract faculties with a set of 27 highly specific faculties, many of which humans share with animals. In addition, he argued that these faculties are dependent on specific cortical areas, these being his organs of mind. After several years of presenting his new views in Vienna, he was banned from lecturing for what he considered absurd reasons. The edict enticed him to make a scientific journey through the German states, both to present his ideas to targeted audiences and to collect more cases. This trip, started in 1805, was extended to include stops in Denmark, Holland, and Switzerland before finally ending in Paris in 1807. For the most part, Gall was received with great enthusiasm in what is now Germany, but there were some individuals who strongly opposed his anatomical discoveries and skull-based doctrine. In this article, we examine the concerns and arguments raised by Johann Gotlieb Walter in Berlin, Henrik Steffens in Halle, Jakob Fidelis Ackermann in Heidelberg, and Samuel Thomas Soemmerring in Munich, as well as how Gall responded to them.     

Giuseppe Levi: mentor of three Nobel laureates

Giuseppe Levi (1872-1965), Professor of Anatomy at the University of Turin, had broad research interests and was a pioneer of in vitro studies on cultured cells. He provided a number of contributions on the nervous system, especially on the plasticity of sensory ganglion cells. An influential and magnetic teacher and mentor, he gathered around him a large group of brilliant students. He has the peculiar primate to count among his students three Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine: Salvador Luria, Renato Dulbecco, and Rita Levi-Montalcini. For all three of them, the internship in Levi's laboratory provided an exceptional initial stimulus. They remained in close contact with each other and with Levi even after the 1940s when they migrated to the United States for political and racial reasons, engaging in different fields of research. Rita Levi-Montalcini, who was awarded the Nobel Prize (1986) for the discovery of Nerve Growth Factor, was stimulated and assisted in her work by Giuseppe Levi during the difficult years of World War II. With Giuseppe Levi, she pursued early studies on the relationships between neural centers and their peripheral target of innervation, and she has witnessed in her writings the enthusiasm of her mentor.     

Dr. Gottlieb Burckhardt the Pioneer of Psychosurgery

The first attempt at psychosurgeryintentional damage to the intact brain for the relief of mental illness–was undertaken in 1888 by the Swiss psychiatrist Gottlieb Burckhardt. Six chronic schizophrenic patients underwent localized cerebral cortical excisions. Most patients showed improvement and became easier to manage, although one died from the procedure and several had aphasia or seizures. Burckhardt, a learned neuropsychiatrist, presented his results in 1890 and in 1891 published his scientific rationale and detailed clinical outcome in a scholarly paper. Nevertheless his approach had shocked the medical community as reckless and irresponsible. Burckhardt was ridiculed, his academic endeavors ceased and his surgical endeavor largely ignored. Nevertheless he continued practice as a fine psychiatrist and mental hospital director. Burckhardts career and interesting ideas on higher cerebral functions are reviewed and placed in perspective regarding the development of “modern” psychosurgery almost one-half century later.