Textura del sistema nervioso del hombre y de los vertebrados

Description

Cajal's research confirmed the neuron doctrine; his classification of neurons provided a histological basis for cerebral localization. His descriptions of the cerebral cortex are still the most authoritative, and led directly to the cytoarchitectonics of Campbell, etc. He set up the problem of synaptic transmission and developed the theory of dynamic polarization, with transmission of the nerve impulse from dendrites and cell body to axon. He developed new staining techniques, such as the reduced silver nitrate method for displaying neurofibrils. His work overturned concepts of the nervous system that had held sway for over a century, or since the beginning of investigation with the microscope, if not earlier. In 1906, two years after publication of the Textura, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine. He shared the prize with Golgi, who, even at this late date, in his Nobel Lecture tried to dispute Cajal's neuron doctrine.--J. Norman, 2006. Santiago Ramon y Cajal's Textura del Sistema Nervioso del Hombre y de los Vertebrados, issued in Madrid from 1899 to 1904, was a comprehensive analysis of all parts of the nervous system in both man and animals, and the culmination of fifteen years of research. Cajal proved many of the connections between one section of the brain and another, and he illustrated these, as well as the many connections one cell makes with others. He described many nerve cells for the first time and also pointed out the plasticity of nerve cells in the brain, a discovery that has only recently come to be appreciated.

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