Neuron doctrine (Cajal)
Doctrina neuronal
- Date
- 1888-1894 · confidence high
- Place
- Barcelona / Madrid, Spain
- Credited to
- Santiago Ramón y Cajal; name 'neuron' by Waldeyer (1891)
- People
- 👤 Santiago Ramón y Cajal1852–1934
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Using Golgi staining he demonstrated that the nervous system is made up of individual cells (neurons) that communicate by contact, not continuity, and that the signal flows from dendrites to axon (dynamic polarisation).
Golgi defended the reticular theory even in his Nobel lecture, shared with Cajal in 1906.
What it led to
- modern neuroscience
- the concept of the synapse (Sherrington, 1897)
- neurophysiology and neuroanatomy
- understanding of plasticity and learning
Built on
- Purkinje cells1837
- Cell theory (Schleiden and Schwann)1838-1839
- Golgi stain (1873)