Primo Dorello (1872–1963) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

. He is best known for identifying

Dorello's canal Dorello's canal is the bow-shaped bony enclosure at the tip of the temporal bone. It surrounds the abducens nerve (CN VI) and the inferior petrosal sinus as the two structures merge with the cavernous sinus. Structure Dorello's canal is a bow-s ...

Personal life

Dorello was born in 1872 in

Narni Narni (in Latin, Narnia) is an ancient hilltown and ''comune'' of Umbria, in central Italy, with 19,252 inhabitants (2017). At an altitude of 240 m (787 ft), it overhangs a narrow gorge of the Nera River in the province of Terni. ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

. Dorello studied

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

at the University of Rome in 1897. He also had an interest in

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

, particularly of

Italian architecture Italy has a very broad and diverse architectural style, which cannot be simply classified by period or region, due to Italy's division into various small states until 1861. This has created a highly diverse and eclectic range in architectural des ...

. He died in 1963.

Career

He later became an assistant professor at the University of Rome until 1922. He later went on to become the chair of human anatomy at the University of Perugia, a position he held for 20 years between 1926 and 1946. He remained an

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor during retirement. Dorello performed

dissection Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause o ...

s of the previously-discovered Gruber ligament. These began in 1905. Beneath the Gruber ligament, he identified

. This contains the

abducens nerve The abducens nerve or abducent nerve, also known as the sixth cranial nerve, cranial nerve VI, or simply CN VI, is a cranial nerve in humans and various other animals that controls the movement of the lateral rectus muscle, one of the extraocula ...

(CN VI) and the inferior petrosal sinus. His identification was confirmed years layer. He theorised possible diseases associated with Dorello's canal, including

entrapment Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or agent of the state induces a person to commit a "crime" that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.''Sloane'' (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent provo ...

of the abducens nerve due to

inflammation Inflammation (from la, wikt:en:inflammatio#Latin, inflammatio) is part of the complex biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or Irritation, irritants, and is a protective response involving im ...

Awards and recognitions

Dorello worked on anatomy topics in the Treccani Encyclopaedia. In 1939, he was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

. He also nominated four scientists for the prize.

References

1872 births 1963 deaths Sapienza University of Rome alumni Italian anatomists Academic staff of the Sapienza University of Rome 20th-century Italian biologists People from Narni Academic staff of the University of Perugia {{Italy-biologist-stub