Jean Nageotte (8 February 1866 – 22 July 1948) was a French

neuroanatomist Neuroanatomy is the study of the structure and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defin ...

born in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. He obtained his medical degree in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1893, and afterwards was associated with the Hôpital Bicêtre and Salpêtrière. He succeeded

Louis-Antoine Ranvier Louis-Antoine Ranvier (2 October 1835 – 22 March 1922) was a French physician, pathologist, anatomist and histologist, who discovered the nodes of Ranvier, regularly spaced discontinuities of the myelin sheath, occurring at varying intervals alon ...

(1835–1922) in what then became the chair of comparative

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...

at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

. Nageotte specialized in anatomical research of the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

, and in his work stressed the importance of

microscopic anatomy Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...

. He performed research of

nerve fiber An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action po ...

s and the

myelin sheath Myelin is a lipid-rich material that surrounds nerve cell axons (the nervous system's "wires") to insulate them and increase the rate at which electrical impulses (called action potentials) are passed along the axon. The myelinated axon can be l ...

, and conducted studies involving

connective tissue Connective tissue is one of the four primary types of animal tissue, along with epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue. It develops from the mesenchyme derived from the mesoderm the middle embryonic germ layer. Connective tiss ...

. He provided a description of ''boutons terminaux'' ( terminal buttons) of

spinal nerves A spinal nerve is a mixed nerve, which carries motor, sensory, and autonomic signals between the spinal cord and the body. In the human body there are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, one on each side of the vertebral column. These are grouped into the ...

, and did extensive work with nerve grafting. In addition he investigated

tabes dorsalis Tabes dorsalis is a late consequence of neurosyphilis, characterized by the slow degeneration (specifically, demyelination) of the neural tracts primarily in the dorsal root ganglia of the spinal cord (nerve root). These patients have lancinating n ...

, and with

Joseph Babinski Joseph Jules François Félix Babinski ( pl, Józef Julian Franciszek Feliks Babiński; 17 November 1857 – 29 October 1932) was a French-Polish professor of neurology. He is best known for his 1896 description of the Babinski sign, a pathologic ...

(1857–1932), the Babinski-Nageotte syndrome was described. This syndrome is a complex of symptoms associated with medullary

lesions A lesion is any damage or abnormal change in the tissue of an organism, usually caused by disease or trauma. ''Lesion'' is derived from the Latin "injury". Lesions may occur in plants as well as animals. Types There is no designated classifi ...

. He documented this disorder in a treatise called ''Hémiasynergie, latéropulsion et miosis bulbaire''. Also with Babinski, he co-wrote a book on

cerebrospinal fluid Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates. CSF is produced by specialised ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the bra ...

. In his 1910 article,Nageotte J. 1910. Phenomenes de secretion dans le protoplasma des cellules nevrogliques de la substance grise. C R Soc Biol. 68, 1068-1069 he surmised that

glial cell Glia, also called glial cells (gliocytes) or neuroglia, are non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system that do not produce electrical impulses. They maintain homeostasis, form mye ...

s behaves like an

endocrine organ The endocrine system is a messenger system comprising feedback loops of the hormones released by internal glands of an organism directly into the circulatory system, regulating distant target organs. In vertebrates, the hypothalamus is the neur ...

and secretes several molecules into the blood. Albeit the importance of this proposal had not been recognized in his time, today we know that glial cells have

neurotransmitter receptor A neurotransmitter receptor (also known as a neuroreceptor) is a membrane receptor protein that is activated by a neurotransmitter. Chemicals on the outside of the cell, such as a neurotransmitter, can bump into the cell's membrane, in which the ...

s and even more, release neurotransmitters with similar mechanisms as neurons. Other eponyms associated with Jean Nageotte: * ''Nageotte cells'': mononuclear cells found in the cerebrospinal fluid; 1 or 2 Nageotte cells per cubic millimeter are typically found in healthy individuals, but larger numbers of these cells are an indication of disease. * ''Nageotte's radicular nerve'': Nageotte placed the initial lesion of

in the root component of the

radicular Radicular pain, or radiculitis, is pain "radiated" along the dermatome (sensory distribution) of a nerve due to inflammation or other irritation of the nerve root (radiculopathy) at its connection to the spinal column. A common form of radicul ...

nerve.

Written works

* ''Tabès et paralysie générale'' (Tabes and general paralysis), Paris, Steinheil, 1893. * ''Contribution à l’étude du cytodiagnostic du liquide céphalo-rachidien dans les affections nerveuses'' (Contribution to the study of cytodiagnostics of cerebrospinal fluid in nervous disorders) Tours, Maretheux, 1901. * ''Pathogénie du tabes dorsal'' (

Pathogenesis Pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes from Greek πάθος ''pat ...

of tabes dorsalis) Paris, Naud, 1903. * ''La Structure fine du système nerveux'' (The delicate structure of the nervous system), Paris, Maloine, 1905. * ''L’Organisation de la matière dans ses rapports avec la vie'' Paris, 1922. * ''Morphologie des gels lipoïdes, myéline, cristaux liquides, vacuoles'' (Morphology of lipoidal gel, myelin, liquid crystals,

vacuole A vacuole () is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in plant and fungal cells and some protist, animal, and bacterial cells. Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled with water containing inorganic and organic mo ...

s), Paris, Hermann, 1937

References

''Jean Nageotte''
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograph ...

* List of publications copied from the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has article ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nageotte, Jean French anatomists French neurologists 1866 births 1948 deaths Physicians from Dijon Academic staff of the Collège de France