Camillo Golgi and the discovery of the Golgi apparatus

Abstract

Camillo Golgi (1843-1926) was born at Corteno, near Brescia, in northern Italy. After graduating in Medicine at the ancient University of Pavia, the former seat of great scientists and naturalists, Golgi continued a long-standing Italian tradition by studying the histology of the nervous system. While working as a modest physician at Abbiategrasso, a small town near Pavia, he developed a silver-osmium technique, the "reazione nera" (black reaction), for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1906. In the late 1890's, 25 years after the publication of his black reaction and while Professor of General Pathology in Pavia, Golgi noticed a fine internal network in only partially silver-osmium-blackened Purkinje cells. Following confirmation by his assistant Emilio Veratti, Golgi published the discovery, called the "apparato reticolare interno", in the Bollettino della Società medico-chirurgica di Pavia in 1898, which is now considered the birthday of the "Golgi apparatus". The discovery of the Golgi apparatus can be added to the long list of accidental discoveries. The man after whom it is named was not a cytologist engaged in studying the inner structure of the cell, but a pathologist searching to prove a neuroanatomical theory.

A Peculiar New Pampatheriidae (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Cingulata) from the Pleistocene of Argentina and Comments on Pampatheriidae Diversity

“…The Ensenadan Stage/Age (lower–middle Pleistocene, ca 2.0–0.4 Ma) [45] was characterized by a predominance of arid or semi–arid and colder climates than today, alternating with short periods of warmer and more humid conditions [68, 48, 43]. Probably the Ensenadan Stage/Age was the period in the Pleistocene with a great number of mammals with ecological requirements of more open and arid environments [69].…”

“…The Lujanian Stage/Age (upper Pleistocene–lower Holocene; 0.13 to 0.008 Ma) was a period defined by the predominance of cold, arid and semi-arid climates, open environments, markedly lower average temperatures (that the currently recorded in the Pampean region), and with alternation of some brief pulses of humid and warmer conditions [68, 48, 70, 71]. The diversity of pampatheres during this Stage/Age is similar to that of the dasypodids and is lower than the Glyptodontidae.…”

“…0.78 Ma) to more than 0.98 Ma (subhcron C1r1n). Thus defined, the Ensenadan covers a wide time span probably surpassing 1.6 Ma, where numerous environmental changes that affected the faunal composition have been recorded [47, 48, 45, 49]. The assignment of the levels with T .…”

The Current State of the Golgi Proteomes

“…Thus, the Golgi apparatus represents significant structure within the eukaryotic cell by regulating an array of complex biosynthetic processes. The Golgi apparatus was first described at the end of the 19 th century by Camillo Golgi using light microscopy on nerve tissue samples (Golgi, 1898;Dröscher, 1998). A half century passed and with the development of the electron microscope a more detailed picture emerged highlighting the extreme complexity and heterogeneity of the organelle in the eukaryotic cell (Dalton & Felix, 1953).…”

In focus in Bad Ischl: Golgi apparatus 2013

“…Although 115 years have passed since its first description by Camillo Golgi in 1898 (Dröscher 1998), the Golgi apparatus is steadily in the focus of interest and subject of continuing scientific controversies. Because of its extraordinarily complex organization and involvement in diverse cellular functions (Fig.…”