Professor Dr. med. Axel Karenberg
Institute for History of Medicine and Medical Ethics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

STROKE: FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO THE 21ST CENTURY

Clinical descriptions of strokes as well as speculations about etiology and treatment have occupied a prominent position throughout the history of Western medicine. Following a quick look at methodological issues, the talk will trace the development of the understanding of apoplectic syndromes as it has evolved in antiquity, Middle Ages, and Modern Times. The main message is: insights from the past will produce better physicians today – physicians who are able to put their own work into perspective.

Professor Sergey Medvedev
N. P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia

SCHOOL OF N. P. BECHTEREVA

Professor Dmitry Sakharov
Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN AS A MULTINEUROTRANSMITTER SYSTEM: KH. S. KOSHTOYANTS AND HIS SCHOOL

In the mid 1950s, the prominent Soviet physiologist Khachatur Sedrakovich Koshtoyants (1900-1961) put forward a hypothesis that processes in the nervous system are based on chemical mechanisms inherited from pre-nervous instruments of control and regulation. This view is an alternative to the old and still dominating approach, which describes the biological substrate of nervous activity in terms of electrical wiring diagram (e. g., the connectome concept). Here, some of the recent achievements of the Koshtoyants’ school are considered, as well as their impact on the world neuroscience. Special attention is given to the results that demonstrate independent origins of different neuron phenotypes, evolutionary conserved roles for individual neurotransmitter molecules, and participation of non-synaptic and multi-neurotransmitter mechanisms in the organization of neuronal ensembles, such as central pattern generators.

Professor Boleslav Lichterman

THE MOSCOW COLLOQUIUM ON ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY OF HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY (1958) AND ITS IMPACT ON INTERNATIONAL BRAIN RESEARCH

Professor Vladimir Skrebitsky
Research Center of Neurology, Moscow, Russia

HISTORY OF SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY STUDY. CONTRIBUTION OF RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS

The study of synaptic plasticity have been laid by the work Bliss and Lomo (1973) weher they describe the long-term increase in the dentate gyrus neurons in response to a short high frequency stimulation of the perforant path fibers. This phenomenon is called long-term potentiation (LTP). It should be noted that in the same year in the laboratory of O. S. Vinogradova the similar phenomenon has been described (Vinogradova and Bragin, 1973). Later, in a series of experiments by L. L. Voronin many LTP properties were studied, showing the relationship of this phenomenon with the mechanisms of the conditioned reflex. The laboratory of V. G. Skrebitsky carried out intracellular LTP registration in hippocampal slices and showed that LTP is an adequate model for studying the mechanisms of action of various physiologically active substances used in neurology and psychiatry.

Paevsky Alexey
Editor-in-chief Neurotechnologies.ru web-portal

Horughaya Anna
Student of Volgograd state medical university,
Deputy Chief Editor Neurotechnologies.ru web-portal

PROMOTING NEUROSCIENCE THROUGH HISTORY. EXPERIENCE OF BLOG AND NEWS MEDIA