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Pioneers in CNS inhibition: 1. Ivan M. Sechenov, the first to clearly demonstrate inhibition arising in the brain
Abstract
This article reviews the contributions of Ivan Michailovich Sechenov [1829-1905] to the neurophysiological concept of central inhibition. He first studied this concept in the frog and on himself. Later his trainees extended the study of central inhibition to other mammalian species. Outside his own country, Sechenov is better known for his prescient contributions to physiological psychology. In Russia, however, he is also revered as "the father of Russian physiology," because of his contributions to neurophysiology and other aspects of physiology including blood gases and respiration, the physiology and biomechanics of movement, and general physiology concepts that appeared in his textbooks and later works he helped translate from largely German sources. After graduation from Moscow University Medical School in 1856 he spent 3½ years in Germany and Austria where he attended lectures and conducted research under the direction of several prominent physiologists and biochemists. In his subsequent academic career he held positions at universities in St. Petersburg (1860-1870; 1876-1888), Odessa (1871-1876) and Moscow (1890-1905). From 1860 onwards he was acclaimed as a physiologist in academic circles. He was also well known in Russian society for his public lectures on physiology and his views on physiological psychology. The latter resulted in him being branded "politically unreliable" by the tsarist bureaucracy from 1863 onwards. Sechenov's first (1862) study on central inhibition remains his most memorable. He delayed the withdrawal of a frog's foot from a weak acid solution by chemical or electrical stimulation of selected parts of the central nervous system. He also noted similar effects on his own hand during co-activation of other sensory inputs by tickling or teeth gnashing.
... In the previous review in this trilogy (Stuart et al., 2014), we discussed the pioneering role of Ivan Michailovich Sechenov [1829Sechenov [ -1905, a Russian scientist who was the first to show convincingly that active central inhibition occurred in the central nervous system (CNS) of non-mammalian vertebrates and humans. About eight decades later the British 1932Nobel Laureate, Charles Scott Sherrington [1857, who shared his prize with Edgar Adrian (Hodgkin, 1979), advanced the concept of central inhibition in his studies on reciprocal inhibition in the mammalian spinal cord and his well-considered opinions on the functional role of such inhibition. ...
... In Stuart et al. (2014), the first review of this trilogy, we emphasized how well the early and particularly 19th C history of work on central inhibition was covered by Smith (1992), and how Sherrington had also read all the key literature on this topic. Sherrington emphasized that Sechenov had made an abrupt jump in advancing the concept in Sechenov (1863), a book Sherrington cited in his own also classic 1906a book, and mentioned later in the second paragraph of Sherrington (1933aSherrington ( ), his 1932 Nobel Prize lecture. ...
This article reviews the contributions of the English neurophysiologist, Charles Scott Sherrington [1857-1952], and his Australian PhD trainee and collaborator, John Carew Eccles [1903-1997], to the concept of central inhibition in the spinal cord and brain. Both were awarded Nobel Prizes; Sherrington in 1932 for "discoveries regarding the function of neurons," and Eccles in 1963 for "discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in central portions of the nerve cell membrane." Both spoke about central inhibition at their Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies. The subsequent publications of their talks were entitled "Inhibition as a coordinative factor" and "The ionic mechanism of postsynaptic inhibition", respectively. Sherrington's work on central inhibition spanned 41 years (1893-1934), and for Eccles 49 years (1928-1977). Sherrington first studied central inhibition by observing hind limb muscle responses to electrical (peripheral nerve) and mechanical (muscle) stimulation. He used muscle length and force measurements until the early 1900s and electromyography in the late 1920s. Eccles used these techniques while working with Sherrington, but later employed extracellular microelectrode recording in the spinal cord followed in 1951 by intracellular recording from spinal motoneurons. This considerably advanced our understanding of central inhibition. Sherrington's health was poor during his retirement years but he nonetheless made a small number of largely humanities contributions up to 1951, one year before his death at the age of 94. In contrast, Eccles retained his health and vigor until 3 years before his death and published prolifically on many subjects during his 22 years of official retirement. His last neuroscience article appeared in 1994 when he was 91. Despite poor health he continued thinking about his life-long interest, the mind-brain problem, and was attempting to complete his autobiography in the last years of his life.
... While it was known since antiquity that heart rate could be inhibited or even stopped by stimulating the peripheral pneumogastric or vagus nerve without conscious input (Hoff, 1940), the phenomenon was a curiosity to physicians and physiologists. Descartes was among the many prominent scientists who offered theories on peripheral and central inhibition of the heart (Stuart et al., 2014), but the mechanism(s) ...
... By 1850 early work had begun to reveal the workings of the central nervous system and encourage speculation on emotional behavior. In the 1860's Russian physiologist Ivan Sechenov (1829-1905) pioneered the use of electrophysiology, demonstrating that the brain is linked to cardiac inhibition through electric currents (Stuart et al., 2014). In 1864, John Hughlings Jackson (1835Jackson ( -1911 proposed that the nervous system is organized in a hierarchical manner, with the cortex at the top (Jackson, 1958). ...
Modern scientific theories of emotional behavior, almost without exception, trace their origin to Charles Darwin, and his publications On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). The most famous dilemma Darwin acknowledged as a challenge to his theory of evolution through natural selection was the incomplete Sub-Cambrian fossil record. However, Darwin struggled with two other rarely referenced theoretical and scientific dilemmas that confounded his theories about emotional behavior. These included (1) the origin of social instincts (e.g., altruism, empathy, reciprocity and cooperation) and the reasons for their conservation in evolution and (2) the peripheral control of heart rate vis-à-vis emotional behavior outside of consciousness. Darwin acknowledged that social instincts are critical to the survival of some species, but had difficulty aligning them with his theory of natural selection in humans. Darwin eventually proposed that heart rate and emotions are controlled via one’s intellect and cortical mechanisms, and that instinctive behavior is genetically programmed and inherited. Despite ongoing efforts, these two theoretical dilemmas are debated to this day. Simple testable hypotheses have yet to emerge for the biological mechanisms underlying instinctive behavior or the way heart rate is controlled in infants. In this paper, we review attempts to resolve these issues over the past 160 years. We posit that research and theories that supported Darwin’s individualistic brain-centric and genetic model have become an “orthodox” Western view of emotional behavior, one that produced the prevailing behavioral construct of attachment as developed by John Bowlby. We trace research and theories that challenged this orthodoxy at various times, and show how these challenges were repeatedly overlooked, rejected, or misinterpreted. We review two new testable theories, emotional connection theory and calming cycle theory, which we argue resolve the two dilemmas We show emerging scientific evidence from physiology and a wide variety of other fields, as well from clinical trials among prematurely born infants, that supports the two theories. Clinical implications of the new theories and possible new ways to assess risk and intervene in emotional, behavioral and developmental disorders are discussed.
... The phrase psychoneural integration of behavior was used by Ivane S. Beritashvili 1 in the title of his article in the Annual Review of Physiology in 1966 [1], which formed the prefatory chapter to a volume covering numerous areas of physiology. To some degree following Sechenov [2][3][4], Beritashvili at first referred to "psychoneural activity" in his explorations of feeding behavior in dogs, and to the method used in his studies as that of "free movements." ...
... In 1915 Beritashvili had to leave St. Petersburg due to a conflict with Wedensky, and moved to Odessa as a senior assistant to Prof. V.V. Zavyalov at the Department of Physiology in the Physical and Mathematical Faculty of Novorossiysk University [19]. The founder of this department was Ivan M. Sechenov, praised by Pavlov as "the father of Russian physiology", who had headed the department for six years between 1870 and 1876 [2,3]. Beritashvili would assume the position of a private docent at the same department within a year of his arrival there, and began delivering lecture courses on the physiology of the nerve-muscular system [19][20][21]. ...
Ivane S. Beritashvili's doctrine of psychoneural or goal-directed behavior was established in the late 1920s. It bears a strong resemblance to the concepts of purposive behavior and " cognitive maps " developed in parallel by Edward Tolman (1932), and significantly preceded respective modern concepts. Beritashvili's research was motivated by a disagreement with Ivan P. Pavlov concerning the physiological bases of conditioned reflex formation. In the late 1920s, Beritashvili concluded that, due to the restrictions it placed on animals' behavior, the Pavlov-Bechterev type of conditioning was not a proper model for the study of behavior. Instead, Beritashvili came to prefer the method of " free movement " of the experimental animal. He pursued ingenious and extensive comparative investigations of memory in vertebrates. This revealed the unique nature of mammalian memory processes, which he forthrightly called " image-driven " and distinguished from memory processes underlying conditional reflexes. These extraordinary works led to the discovery of the mediation of animal goal-directed behavior by image-driven memory.
... The nature and variety of unconscious decisions that are taken by a human hand during a manipulation task -for example, turning a key or dexterous shuffling cards -have been but slightly explored for intertwined sensory-motor actions Stuart et al (2014); Jeannerod (1984). The human hand is endowed by multiple tactile sensing modalities allowing us to perform dexterous manipulation tasks Shao et al (2016). ...
... Historically, the school of Ilya A. Arshavsky (1903Arshavsky ( -1996 can be seen as part of the wider evolutionary and integrative outlooks characterizing Russian physiological traditions, strongly influenced by I.M. Sechenov and his followers (cf. Stuart et al. 2014;Smith 2019). In this regard, also the non-adaptationist interpretations in local evolutionary traditions may be significant (Todes 1989;Gilbert 2003), by leaving room for more inclusive and synthetic concepts of evolutionary processes and development (beyond genetic reduction and selectionism) (Gould 1988;Brauckmann and Kull 1997). ...
Variations in life history define key comparative and evolutionary biological questions, central for understanding the mechanisms of mammalian evolutionary divergence, developmental adaptability and plasticity. In this regard, the differences among predominantly altricial and precocial species represent a particularly significant, if still poorly understood and contested case. Here, it will be shown how the classical analysis of such ontogenetic variations, going back to the semantic biology of A. Portmann, can be expanded and synthesized with comparative physiological approaches, based on the negentropic theory of ontogeny by I. A. Arshavsky and his school. In this little received but pioneering tradition, extensive comparative and experimental investigations were carried out on the role of musculoskeletal systems and stressors in driving life history variations, particularly in the altricial-precocial spectrum. As shown by Arshavsky and co-workers, by focusing on general allometric regularities, the approximations based on the classical energy rules of surface and mass offer valuable benchmarks, but also predictions that are frequently violated by the variability of physiological and metabolic scaling relationships among altricials and precocials, and thus, a complex and historical approach is needed to describe their local physiological mechanisms and systemic regularities. This paper shows how Arshavsky's findings and framework can play an integrative role in this context, potentially helping to bridge the mainly descriptive approach of semantic morphology, as developed by Portmann's school, with the more functional explanations predominating current ecology and life history theory. These problems can be important for biosemiotics by highlighting the contingent, activity-dependent, and surplus anabolic (negentropic, hyper-restorative) stress mechanisms underlying diversification in eutherian developmental systems and possibly, the epigenetic evolution of pace-of-life syndromes.
... Tarchanoff was interested in different fields of physiology. His greatest interest was in electrophysiology, which was a direct continuation of the work of I. M. Sechenov, of whom Tarchanoff was one of the first disciples [12]. Tarchanoff engaged in experimental studies on the phenomena of summation in the nervous system (1869). ...
This article is dedicated to two outstanding scientists of the nineteenth century, Ivan Tarchanoff (Ivane Tarkhnishvili) and Maria Manasseina, Russian physiologists worked at the St. Petersburg Medico-Surgical Academy. Among the numerous contributions of Tarchanoff was the discovery of the skin galvanic reflex and of the influence of X-rays on physiological systems and functions, among them the central nervous system and animal behavior, the heart and circulation, and embryonic development. Maria Manasseina, one of the first Russian women-doctor great contributed in biochemistry and both scientists are founders of experimental sleep research by their original discoveries. Tarchanoff and Manasseina presented their interesting findings in experimental studies on sleep at the International Congress of Medicine in Rome in 1894 and published their papers in Archives Italiennes de Biologie in the same year.
Although no precise moment or unique event marks its birth, neuroimmunoendocrinology arguably shares a great deal of history with other medical and biologic disciplines. It originated from empirical observations and suppositions that failed to prevail upon the existing axioms. Despite the widespread resistance to embracing novel ideas, the seeming defeats inspired visionary researchers. Those pioneers managed to systematize the emerging knowledge and were able to contribute to science with real foundations. In consequence, new concepts and ideas arose in physiology, anatomy, endocrinology and early immunology. Together, they gave rise to a budding approach on the integration between the nervous, immune and endocrine systems. Then, neuroimmunoendocrinology emerged as a discipline integrating an intricate system with multidirectional functions and interactions that allow for responding to internal and external threats. Such response is mediated by cytokines, hormones and neurotransmitters, involved in different physiologic mechanisms of the organism homeostasis. Neuroimmunoendocrinology is no longer an area of scientific skepticism; on the contrary, it has cemented its position as a biomedical discipline worldwide for the past 70 years. Now, it offers a better understanding of pathologic processes. Neuroimmunoendocrinology is has established its place as a biomedical discipline worldwide in the past 70 years.
This article summarizes
the life and work of the Russian physiologist Ivan M. Sechenov (1829–1905).
This article is dedicated to one of the outstanding scientists of the nineteenth century: Ivane Tarkhnishvili (Tarchanoff), a Russian physiologist of Georgian origin who graduated from the St. Petersburg Medico-Surgical Academy and worked under the supervision of the founder of Russian physiology, Ivan Sechenov. Among his numerous contributions was the discovery of the skin galvanic reflex; however, Tarkhnishvili's most significant contribution was the discovery of the influence of X-rays on the central nervous system, animal behavior, the heart and circulation, and embryonic development. Indeed, these works have given rise to a new field in science (radiobiology).
Sechenov was the originator of the basic theoretics of Russia's distinct physiologists' psychology. Pavlov and Bekhterev were its experimental verifiers and validators. Watson's Behaviorism arose as an independent development of American experimental psychology but interacted almost immediately with Russian-opened new experimental vistas. The vast influence of the English translations (1927 and 1928) of Pavlov's 2 conditioned reflex books on American psychological systematics is fully discussed, as is also the distinctness of the Pavlov system vis-à-vis specific American systems and American psychology in general. The language barrier is shown to be a unique factor in Russo-American experimental and theoretical parallels and divergencies. Brain behavior is the keynote of current Soviet physiologists' psychology and is increasingly dominating recent American experimental psychology. Significant Russo-American rapprochements in the basics of psychology seem imminent. (4-p. ref.)
This paper is dedicated to one of the outstanding scientists of the twentieth century--Ivane Beritashvili. He was a Georgian physiologist who graduated from St. Petersburg University and worked under the supervision of N. Wedensky. He founded the Department of Physiology and the Institute of Physiology at the University of Tbilisi, Georgia. Among his numerous contributions was the discovery of the rhythmical course of reciprocal inhibition in spinal reflexes, the first demonstration of the excitatory and inhibitory reactions in the brain stem neuropil. But Beritashvili's most significant contribution was the discovery of the mediation of animal psychoneural behavior by image-driven memory.
The higher departments of every science are doubtless its general principles and its laws. These have a claim to our consideration beyond that of insulated facts or mere details. Impressed with this truth, I have hitherto devoted my attention chiefly to the laws and principles of physiology. In a former memoir, I gave the outline of one of the most general of the laws of this science, —that memoir, I propose to give an account of a principle of action in the animal economy, which has not hitherto, I think, been distinguished with sufficient precision from the other vital and animal functions. The principle to which I have adverted is connected, in a peculiar manner, with the medulla oblongata and the medulla spinalis. There is still much discrepancy of opinion amongst physiologists, in regard to the properties and functions of these parts of the nervous system. Legallois concluded, from his interesting series of experiments, that the spinal marrow, as a whole, and in distinct portions, is the exclusive source of sensation and voluntary motion. He observes, “La vie du tronc dépend de la moëlle épinière, et celle de chaque partie dépend spécialement de la portion de cette moëlle dont elle reçoit ses nerfs. De plus, il est facile de démontrer que cette prérogative de la moëlle épinière, d’être la source du sentiment et de tous les mouvemens volontaires du tronc, lui appartient exclusivement à tout autre organe.” The Reporters of the Institute adopt the conclusions of Legallois: "M. Legal lois,” they observe,“ a démontré que la section de la moëlle épinière sur les premières ou sur les dernières vertèbres cervicales, n’arrête que les mouvemens inspiratoires, et qu’elle laisse subsister dans tout le corps le sentiment et les mouvemens volontaires. Cette distinction est capitate: personne ne l’avait faite avant lui.” M. Cruveilhier, on the other hand, denounces this view of the functions of the spinal marrow as one of the errors of modern physiology. He observes, “L’indepéndence des diverses parties de la moëlle les unes des autres, l’indepéndence de la moëlle du cerveau, assez généralement admise dans ces derniers temps, me parait une grave erreur physiologique fondée sur d’ingénieuses expériences. L’opinion des anciens, qui regardaient la moëlle comme un gros cordon nerveux destiné à repondre lui seul à tous les nerfs de l’économie, pour transmettre en définitive au cerveau les impressions, ou pour en recevoir les impulsions volontaires ou organiques, cette opinion est bien plus en harmonie avec les faits, avec la grande loi anatomique de la continuité du système nerveux.”
That eccentric experimentalist, Charles Edouard Brown-Séquard, flitted restlessly between the major cities of the old and new worlds in the nineteenth century, replacing outdated concepts with new ideas of his own concerning the operation of the nervous system in health and disease. He used the experimental approach to generate hypotheses but had no interest in showing by meticulous study that his views were correct, leaving this to others. Extending his work on the integrative action of the nervous system, he came to believe that humoral factors are important in integrating the operation of the intact animal. Such views brought chilling disapproval and his erratic and unfocused approach led to dramatic success but later obscurity. Ironically, many of his views that were originally ridiculed or misunderstood have been vindicated by the later work of others and are now widely accepted. The significance and potential implications of other concepts that he advanced, such as the basis of sensory disturbances after spinal cord lesions, have yet to receive the recognition that they merit. NEUROSCIENTIST 6:60-65, 2000
This section surveys the structure and function of the central nervous system in the various groups of vertebrates. Since it would be impossible to review all the available data on every species examined, we had to be selective. Our choices were based on the following considerations, (a) The species to be dealt with should represent all major groups, (b) Preference should be given to species in which the CNS has been extensively studied, both morphologically and physiologically, (c) The book should be useful as an introductory guide to experimental studies; thus, easily obtainable species should be selected whenever possible.
This history, written in terms of the personalities who created it, starts with a brief background of the work which led to Richard Caton's discovery of the electrical activity of the brain. The rest of the book is devoted to Adolf Beck, Fleischl, Gotch, Horsley, Danilevsky, Sechenov, Bechterev, Cybulski, Kaufman, Provdich-Neminsky, and early work with the electroencephalogram. The work ends with a sketch of Hans Berger, who first recorded the electroencephalogram in man. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4DG19B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Christine Ruane examines the issues of gender and class in the teaching profession of late imperial Russia, at a time when the vocation was becoming increasingly feminized in a zealously patriarchal society. Teaching was the first profession open to women in the 1870s, and by the end of the century almost half of all Russian teachers were female. Yet the notion that mothers had a natural affinity for teaching was paradoxically matched by formal and informal bans against married women in the classroom. Ruane reveals not only the patriarchal rationale but also how women teachers viewed their public roles and worked to reverse the marriage ban. Ruane's research and insightful analysis broadens our knowledge of an emerging professional class, especially newly educated and emancipated women, during Russia's transition to a more modern society.
The inductorium, or induction-coil stimulator, introduced in the late 1830s, provided a means for obtaining repetitive stimuli; thereby allowing the discovery of new properties of excitable tissues. Major physiologic discoveries with the inductorium were tetanic contraction of skeletal muscle, inhibition of the heart, the role of vasomotor nerves, and cortical localization. In the hands of clinicians, it was used to diagnose neuromuscular disease and to produce artificial respiration with body-surface electrodes. Because of the historical importance of this tool, its characteristics are described quantitatively. Although it is no longer used, it has a secure place in the history of biomedical instrumentation.
This chapter elaborates I. M. Sechenov's experiments and concepts focusing on central inhibition. The main concepts of central inhibition, put forth by I. M. Sechenov a hundred years ago, have played an important part in the physiological analysis of the reflex and psychic activity. One of the main concepts says that stimulation of cross-sections of the midbrain and medulla oblongata in frogs causes a depression of the spinal cord reflex activity. Under certain conditions, this inhibition is preceded by reflex movements. This central inhibition is a general one, embracing the whole skeletal musculature of extremities, as well as the vegetative system in the form of a depression of automatic activity of blood and lymphatic hearts. This general inhibition, according to Sechenov's ideas, is effected through the excitation of depressing mechanisms of the nerve cells distributed through the middle parts of the brain and upper parts of the medulla oblongata. These mechanisms act on the spinal cord through their descending paths in the same manner as the vagal nerve acts on the heart. I. M. Sechenov also found that a general inhibition is observed after initial reflex movements upon stimulation of sensory nerves of extremities and that this inhibition is based on a decrease in the excitability of nervous centers of cutaneous-muscular reflexes along the whole spinal cord axis.
This chapter analyzes the central inhibiting mechanism of the thalamic suppression of spinal motor reflexes. The thalamic depression of reflexes observed upon stimulation of the thalamus of the frog is characterized by a relatively short latency, a high rate of development of the maximal inhibition, and quick restoration of the reflex after the cessation of stimulation. The thalamic inhibition may manifest itself both in delay of the response when thalamic stimulation precedes the afferent one and in inhibition of the following reflex when afferent stimulation precedes the thalamic one. The time course of thalamic inhibition corresponds with that of the reflex one, for instance, of the reciprocal inhibition of antagonists. However, thalamic inhibition significantly differs from reflex inhibition in two respects. Firstly, thalamic inhibition is not local and spreads over the motor centers of all the skeletal muscles. Secondly, it is not reduced by strychnine; however, it inhibits strychnine excitation. These peculiarities form the basis for belief that Sechenov thalamic inhibition is related to that type of descending inhibitory influence of the brain that, according to Magoun's investigations, has been associated with the functions of the reticular formation of the brain stem.
In his electrophysiological studies I. M. Sechenov described for the first time the spontaneous electrical activity of the isolated brain, the physical electrotonus in the CNS, the amplifying action of anodic polarization on spontaneous and induced electrical activity, phenomena of inhibition of spontaneous and induced electrical oscillations of the brain upon tetanization of sensory nerves and negative shifts in the potential of the brain. Thus Sechenov discovered some basic electrical manifestations of the activity of the CNS and initiated fundamental electrophysiological studies of the brain.
1. Stimulation of the reticular formation of the brain stem evokes changes in the EEG, consisting of abolition of synchronized discharge and introduction of low voltage fast activity in its place, which are not mediated by any of the known ascending or descending paths that traverse the brain stem. The alteration is a generalized one but is most pronounced in the ipsilateral hemisphere and, sometimes, in its anterior part. 2. This response can elicited by stimulating the medical bulbar reticular formation, pontile and midbrain tegmentum, and dorsal hypothalamus and subthalamus. The bulbar effect is due to ascending impulses relayed through these more cephalic structures. The excitable substrate possesses a low threshold and responds best to high frequencies of stimulation. 3. Some background synchrony of electrocortical activity is requisite for manifestation of the response. In the "encephale isolé", reticular stimulation has no additional effect upon the fully activated EEG. With synchrony, in spontaneous drowsiness or light chloralosane anesthesia, the effect of reticular stimulation is strikingly like Berger's alpha wave blockade, or any arousal reaction. In full chloralosane anesthesia, high voltage slow waves are blocked but no increase in lower amplitude, fast activity occurs. With barbiturate anesthesia, the reticular response is difficult to elicit or is abolished. 4. In the chloralosane preparation, the secondary cortical response evoked by a sensory volley is generally unaffected by reticular stimulation. Consequent sensory after-discharge is abolished, however, as is pyramidal tract discharge and jerky movements referable to it. Outside the sensory receiving area, secondary responses themselves may be reduced or prevented. 5. The convulsive spikes produced by local strychnine and those of a fit following supramaximal cortical excitation, are not decreased by stimulating the reticular formation. 6. The cortical recruiting response induced by low frequency stimulation of the diffuse thalamic projection system is reduced or abolished by reticular stimulation. 7. There is some indication that the cortical effect of reticular stimulation may be mediated by this diffuse thalamic projection system, for synchronized activity within it is similarly prevented by reticular excitation, and direct high frequency stimulation of this system, within the thalamus, reproduces the reticular response. It is possible, however, that other mechanisms may be involved in its mediation. 8. The reticular response and the arousal reaction to natural stimuli have been compared in the "encéphale isolé", in which EEG synchrony was present during spontaneous relaxation or was produced by recruiting mechanisms, and the two appear identical. 9. The possibility that the cortical arousal reaction to natural stimuli is mediated by collaterals of afferent pathways to the brain stem reticular formation, and thence through the ascending reticular activating system, rather than by intra-cortical spread following the arrival of afferent impulses at the sensory receiving areas of the cortex, is under investigation. 10. The possibility is considered that a background of maintained activity within this ascending brain stem activating system may account for wakefulness, while reduction of its activity either naturally, by barbiturates, or by experimental injury and disease, may respectively precipitate normal sleep, contribute to anesthesia or produce pathological somnolence.
The following topics are discussed: the capacitor-discharge stimulator; empirical strength-duration curve; theoretical strength-duration curve; basis for stimulation; galvanic (direct-current) stimulation; Daniell cell; Grove (Bunsen) cell; Leclanche cell; interrupted direct-current stimulators; the inductorium; Galvanic-Faradic stimuli to diagnose nerve injury; modern stimulators.< >
Fiziologiya nervnikh tzhentrov [Physiology of the Nervous System]. Panteleev, St. Petersburg. Note: This book was based on lectures given to an assembly of Moscow clinicians
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Elementi misli [The elements of thought]. Nauchnoe slovo. [Scientific Word], 125 pp. Sechenov, I.M., 1904. Zur Frage der Einwirkung sensitiver Reize auf die Muskelarbeit des Menschen [On the question of the influence of sensory stimuli on the muscular work of people]. Le Physiol
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