1. British Neurophysiology: 100 years of major discoveries & Nobel's
HISTORY OF NEUrOLOGY
British Neurophysiology:
100 years of major discoveries & Nobel's
Richard J. Barohn, MD
The University of Kansas Medical Center

2. David Ferrier (1843 – 1928) Worked Queen’s Square / Founder of Brain
Experimental proof of cerebral localization in animals (esp. monkeys in 1870’s & 1880’s)
Extended concepts of Jackson & Hitzig/Fritsch
1881: International medical congress in London
Face-off between localization vs. non- localization proponents (Goltz)
Showed monkeys that had experimental left hem frontal cortex damage had RT hemiplegia
Charcot at conference said “It is a patient!”
Victory for Localizationists
Link between Jackson & Sherrington

3. Charles Sherrington (1857 – 1952)
1st research on pathologic degeneration of corticospinal tract in dog
Concepts:
One-way transmission at the “synapse”
Convergence of reflexes on “final common path”
Then systematic analysis of spinal reflex activity in chronic spinal dogs
Inhibition is an active process, like excitation
Reciprocal inhibition
Decereberate posture from animals
Book: The Integrative Action of the Nervous System (1906)
1932: Nobel prize in medicine/physiology, shared with E. Adrian
Classic in neurophysiology

4. Sir/Baron Edgar Adrian (1889 – 1977)
Adrian and Zotterman 1926; Ibid. 61: p. 151.
Sir/Baron Edgar Adrian (1889 – 1977)
1919
Learned about vacuum tube amplifiers & showed he could multiply tiny potentials up to 50x
1921
Read about Earlanger/Gasser’s multistage amp
Began building a new one
1926
Recorded from single neurons in his lab
Wrote: The Impulses Produced by Sensory Nerve Endings with Zotterman
1928
Along with Bronk, isolated single motor neurons
1929
EEG studies confirmed & extended Berger’s findings
1932
Nobel Prize winner (shared with Sherrington)
1950
Research in Olfaction

5. Stanley Finger. 2005. Minds Behind the Brain. Edgar D
Stanley Finger Minds Behind the Brain. Edgar D. Adrian: Coding in the Nervous System.

6. Nerve Membrane Physiology
Sir John Carew Eccles (1903 – 1997)
Studied under Sherrington
Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (1914 – 1998)
Learned to dissect squid axons at
Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley (1917 – 2012)
Mentee of Hodgkin at Cambridge
Concept of EPSP & IPSP
Sodium & Potassium ions & membrane conductance
Excitation & inhibition in the peripheral & central portion of the nerve cell membrane due to ion flow
Co-won Nobel Prize in 1963
* Bernard Katz also worked with Eccles, Hodgkins & Huxley but he did not get Nobel for this work!

7. The Hodgkin-Huxley Model

9. John Langley (1852 – 1925)
Cambridge / Physiology / succeeded Michael Foster as Prof Phys 1903
1901 – worked with adrenal gland extracts, elicited responses in tissues similar to nerve stimulation
Physiology of Autonomic Neuroscience
Father of Chemical Receptor Theory & “Receptive Substance”
Idea of neurotransmitters & theory of drug action
Much of pharmacology & drug development is based on this concept
1925 – Book: The Autonomic Nervous System

10. Sir Henry Dale (1875 – 1968) Worked under Langley in Cambridge
Then London with Starling; met Otto Loewi
1904 – Director of Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories
Pharmacology of acetylcholine
1914 – Director; Department Biochemistry and Pharmacology at the National Institute for Medical Research
1914 – Identified acetylcholine as neurotransmitter
1936 – Shared Nobel Prize with Otto Loewi

11. Sir Henry Dale (1875 – 1968)
1940’s:
Dale – signaling at synapses was chemical
Eccles – signaling at synapses was electrical
Both were right!
Originated the scheme to differentiate neurons by neurotransmitters they release
Dale’s Principle – each neuron releases only one type neurotransmitter
Ultimately NOT TRUE

12. Father of Modern Neuro-Pharmacology
Sir Bernard Katz (1911 – 2003)
1935
Fled Germany to London, trained under A.V. Hill
1939
Then to Australia, trained under Eccles
Joined the Air Force & became citizen
1946
Then to Cambridge, trained under Hodgkins/Huxley
1950’s
Unraveled role acetylcholine at junction
“Quantum” theory of nerve junction biochemistry
Is constant low level release of ACH producing “resting” signal, due to release of “quanta” of ACH platelets, produces corresponding signal receiving all
Signal strength increases through increased frequency
Central role of acetylcholine & its key enzymes
1970
Nobel Prize winner in Medicine/Physiology for his role of acetylcholine at nerve endings
Shared with Julius Axlerod (USA) & Ulf von Euler (Sweden)
Father of Modern Neuro-Pharmacology

14. Thank you