W03 Workshop on History of Neurochemistry: Looking to the Past to Learn for the Future HISTORY OF NE

1
W03 Workshop on History of NeurochemistryLooking
to the Past to Learn for the FutureHISTORY OF
NEUROCHEMISTRY FROM THE PIONEERS TO TODAY, A
GREAT TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION
San Antonio (TX) March 4th, 2008 39th ASN annual
meeting
Anne Boullerne, PhD University of Illinois at
Chicago Department of Anesthesiology VA Medical
Center, Chicago
2
Brief Chronology of Neuroscience

• 1702 Antonie van Leeuvenhoek (Dutch) sees the
  cell nucleus with a home-made microscope (275X
  magnification).
• 1791 Italians count Alessandro Volta and Luigi
  Galvani discover the electricity in frogs.
• 1808 Alexander von Humboldt (German) confirms
  that electricity is present in animal in the
  electric eel of South America.
• 1818 Mary Shelley (English) wrote the book
  Frankenstein when she was 18 years old.
• 1830 Joseph Jackson Lister (English) develops
  the achromatic objective for microscope.
• 1833 Christian Ehrenberg (German) documents
  cells from the nervous system under a microscope.
• 1837 Robert Remak (German) sees a medullary
  sheath by teasing nerve fibers with a needle.

3
Brief Chronology of Neuroscience

• 1839 Theodor Schwann (German) formulates the
  Cell Theory for Animal Bodies in which the cell
  is the functional basic unit of all developing
  and adult organisms. Clash with the reticular
  theory.
• 1843 Rudolf Virchow (German) coins the term
  glia (glue in Greek) for glial cells because
  only neurons were visible.
• 1858 Rudolf Virchow coins the name myelin
  derived from myelos (white bone marrow) to name
  the white medullary sheath around the nerves.
• 1859 Charles Darwin (English) publishes the book
  On the origin of species.
• 1860 Friedrich von Recklinghausen (German)
  publishes a method using silver nitrate to stain
  tissue. First silver staining of the nervous
  system.

4
Brief Chronology of Neuroscience
1862 Paul Broca (French) observes language
disturbance linked to a brain lesion. First
localization of a brain function. The head below
illustrates Phrenology started in 1810 by Franz
Joseph Gall (German).
5
Brief Chronology of Neuroscience

• 1875 Camillo Golgi (Italian) publishes a new
  silver potassium dichromate staining. First good
  staining of the entire cell for neurons and
  astrocytes.
• 1878 Louis Ranvier (French) describes the nodes
  interspacing myelin in nerve fibers using the
  silver impregnation of Recklinghausen that
  stained only axons.
• 1884 Johann Thudichum (German) publishes the
  first systemic chemical composition of the brain.
• 1906 Ramon y Cajal (Spanish) and Camillo Golgi
  (Italian) shared the Nobel prize for their
  discovery of cells in the nervous system.
• Birth of the neuron theory with the words of
  axon and synapse.

Retina by Ramon y Cajal
6
Brief Chronology of Neuroscience

• 1921 Otto Loewi (German) discovers
  neurotransmission in the peripheral nervous
  system with acetylcholine. He won the Nobel prize
  in 1936 and emigrated to US in 1940.
• 1921 Rio-Hortega (Spanish) discovered microglia
  and oligodendrocyte with a new carbonate silver
  staining. He fled Spain in 1936 and emigrated to
  Argentina in 1940.
• 1939-1945 World War II. Active research in
  nuclear physic and in pharmacology for the army.
  Development of organic solvents for lipids.
• 1942 Ernst Klenk (German) isolated the complex
  lipid gangliosides.

7
Brief Chronology of Neuroscience

• 1951 Jordi Folch-Pi (Spanish) and Marjorie Lees
  (US) extracted the first myelin protein
  proteolipid. Folch-Pi emigrated to US in 1936.
• 1952 Rita Levi-Montalcini (Italian) discovered
  the Nerve Growth Factor. She emigrated to US in
  1946 and won a Nobel prize in 1986.
• 1954 Betty Geren (US) showed myelin is produced
  by Schwann cells by electron microscopy.
• 1954 Marthe Vogt (German) evidenced
  neurotransmission in the central nervous system
  for adrenaline and noradrenaline. She emigrated
  to England in 1935. Spur of modern pharmacology.
• 1957 Jordi Folch-Pi and Marjorie Lees published
  a method for lipid extraction from tissue.
• 1962 Richard Bunge (US) showed myelin is made
  by oligodendrocyte by electron microscopy.

8
Brief Chronology of Neuroscience

• 1964 William Norton and Marian Kies independently
  purify myelin and identify its lipid composition.
  
• 1964 Elizabeth Roboz-Einstein and Marian Kies
  partially purified the myelin basic protein.
• 1971 Ed Eylar sequenced the basic myelin
  protein (MBP).
• 1971 Earl Sutherland won the Nobel prize for
• cyclic AMP as second messenger of epinephrine
  advent of transduction signaling.
• 1973 Richard Quarles identified the
  myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) with
  radioactive fucose.
• Advent of the modern techniques mass
  spectroscopy, NMR, X-ray crystallography

9
Labeling isotopes can be separated based on their
mass using mass spectrometry. Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance (NMR) detects the isotopic differences,
but also gives an indication of the position of
the atom. Radioactive isotopes are used. The
radiation emitted by compounds containing the
radioactive isotopes darkens a piece of
photographic film autoradiograph of gel
electrophoresis. X-ray crystallography is
determining the arrangement of atoms within a
crystal. A beam of X-rays is scattered from the
electrons within the crystal and produces a
three-dimensional picture of the molecule.
Use of isotopes in Neurochemistry Starting in
1940S
10
Brief Chronology of Neuroscience

• 1980s Advent of cell biology and molecular
  biology
• 1971 Ed Eylar sequenced the basic myelin protein
  (MBP).
• 1986 James Kamholz and Robert Lazzarini cloned
  the human gene for MBP.
• 1969 Lawrence Eng discovered the glial
  fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) from multiple
  sclerosis brain lesions.
• 1985 Lewis and Cowan published the cloning of
  the mouse GFAP gene.
• 1985 Hermona Soreq cloned the acetylcholinesteras
  e gene in human brain.

11
21th century in Neurochemistry
Gliotransmitters Second messengers Signaling
pathways Oxidative processes microRNA Proteomics
Lipidomics Glycomics Genomics
12
Johann Thudichum (1829-1901) was the first
pioneer of Neurochemistry. He published the
first systemic molecular composition of the
brainA treatise on the Chemical Constitution
of the Brain in 1884
Start of Neurochemistry in 19th century
He studied medicine and worked in the laboratory
of chemist Justus von Liebig. The German
physician later emigrated to England. Among the
molecules he described in the brain are cephalin,
sphingomyelin, galactose, lactic acid and
sphingosine.
13
Jordi Folch-Pi (1911-1979) He published in 1957
a chloroform-methanol procedure to extract lipids
from tissue with Marjorie Lees.He became the
leader in lipid chemistry and his procedure was
the second most cited paper after the Lowry
procedure to dose proteins.
Folch-Pi successor of Thudichum in 20th century
He was born in Spain and emigrated to US in 1936.
He worked for 30 years at the McLean Hospital
in Boston. Over 30 trainees passed through his
laboratory.
14
1970 Foundation of the American Society for
Neurochemistry by Jordi Folch-Pi and
others.Francis LeBaron was the first president.
First meeting in Albuquerque (New Mexico).
 
15
Neurochemistry societies across the world
Japanese Society for Neurochemistry JSN, founded
in 1958
 
16
Neurochemistry societies across the world
International Society for Neurochemistry ISN,
founded in 1965
 
1958
17
Neurochemistry societies across the world
American Society for Neurochemistry ASN, founded
in 1970
1965
 
1958
18
Neurochemistry societies across the world
European Society for Neurochemistry ESN, founded
in 1976
1965
 
1970
1958
19
Neurochemistry societies across the world
Sociedad Argentina de Neuroquimica SAN, founded
in 1986
1965
 
1976
1970
1958
20
Neurochemistry societies across the world
Asian-Pacific Society of Neurochemistry APSN,
founded in 1992
1965
 
1976
1970
1958
1986
21
Neurochemistry societies across the world
1965
 
1976
1970
1958
1992
1986
22
Main journals in Neurochemistry

• Journal of Neurochemistry founded in 1956
• impact factor 4.26
• Neurochemical Research founded in 1976
• impact factor 2.14
• Journal of Neuroscience research founded in 1975
  
• impact factor 3.47
• Molecular Neurobiology founded in 1987
• impact factor 3.76

23
The first chief editor of the Basic
Neurochemistry textbook was George Siegel,
succeeded by Scott Brady.
24
ENDThank you