Ramón y Cajal explained how the brain works with these drawings
Santiago Ramón y Cajal is one of the most important Spanish figures and recognized in the field of neurosciences.
Nobel Prize with Golgi, this scientist contributed greatly to the understanding of the functioning of the nervous system and the network of neurons that make up the brain. In addition to that, he made detailed illustrations about the brain and neurons , with which to show the functioning of the brain. In this article we make a brief review of his illustrations and his contributions to neuroscience.
- Related article: "Types of neurons: characteristics and functions"
Short biography
Santiago Ramón y Cajal was born in 1852 in the Navarra town of Petilla de Aragón. Son of Antonia Cajal and Justo Ramón, spent his childhood continuously changing residence to be his father surgeon doctor. As a child he had great artistic skills , dreaming of dedicating himself to painting, although his father would end up convincing him to study medicine. He graduated from the University of Zaragoza in 1873, and later would be sent to the war in Cuba where he would work as a doctor.
After returning, he would get his doctorate in Madrid. Later he would marry Silveria Fañanás García and have seven children. It would be in 1887 when he would move to Barcelona, where he would make some of his main discoveries, being the first to isolate and study the neuron as a key element of the nervous system, or the connections between these cells.
In 1892 he would return to Madrid, where he would live until his death. In 1906 he received, along with the Italian Camillo Golgi, the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He retired in 1926, his wife died of tuberculosis four years later. He died on October 17, 1934 due to coronary problems linked to intestinal problems.
Ramón y Cajal and his images: methods used
During the years he spent researching, Ramón y Cajal discovered a large amount of information regarding the functioning and structure of the nervous system. How?
When making your observations, this researcher He used the staining method created by Camile Golgi , which using silver chromate allowed the observation of part of the brain tissue. Ramón y Cajal introduced several improvements in order to obtain a clearer image, in addition to thinking about investigating young cells in order to distinguish whether the brain is a continuous element or is made up of simpler structures.
However, when it came to reflecting his discoveries, he encountered many difficulties. At that time there were no current techniques of image making, being very complicated that a scientist could show the world a faithful reflection of what happened at the microscopic level beyond the mere description. This researcher would use the illustration for this.
And it is that Santiago Ramón y Cajal had not abandoned the artistic side that he showed as a child. The researcher would feel real pleasure when picturing his discoveries, as well as allowing him to clearly show others the results of his observations. Thanks to them we can observe how the researcher clearly established aspects such as the morphology of neurons and multiple components, being his drawings a work of great scientific utility that allowed to know the form and to imagine the operation of the basic units of the nervous system, the neurons.
For him, a good drawing involved the creation of scientific documentation of great value, regardless of the interpretation that was given. The images created by Ramón y Cajal represent a faithful representation of the nervous system and its organization, amazing for its level of fidelity and accuracy, examples of which are the illustration of pyramidal neurons, astrocytes or microglia.
Discovering the world of neurons
Here you can see a selection of the drawings that Santiago Ramón y Cajal himself created to capture his findings.
Some of his discoveries
The role of Santiago Ramón y Cajal in the field of neuroscience is of fundamental importance. Not in vain was he awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. The reason for such importance is due to the great discoveries he made, some of which we expose below.
In the first place, we owe to Ramón y Cajal the knowledge that the basic unit of the nervous system is the neuron . Before him, the existence of the neuronal theory (according to which the neurons are the basic element of the neural network, based on the existence of basic elements that although communicated were not available continuously) was considered and the reticular theory (which proposes that the nervous system is a continuous network) hypothesis that the nervous system was a single set of interconnected networks operating in unison.
Thanks to modifications in Golgi's stain, the Spanish researcher would realize that although the nervous system acts as a system, it is composed of separate and independent cells that although they have a certain connection, they do not touch each other because there is a synaptic space between they. Thus, Ramón y Cajal would demonstrate the neuronal theory, giving rise to the doctrine of the neuron, which is still valid today.
His theories also reflected the way the nervous impulse is transmitted through the system . For example, his research generated an explanation of why the nerve impulse travels only in one direction, the so-called law of dynamic polarization.
Finally, another of his discoveries have to do with the discovery and analysis of parts of neurons, like dendritic spines , which previously were considered a product of the functioning of the nervous system. Now we know, thanks to him, that these spines are an important part of each neuron and that they actively participate in the transmission of information.
