Professor Leão’s original note

Professor Leão nota original

Aristides Azevedo Pacheco Leão (1914-1993) (Figure 1), was my teacher and a leading neuroscientist of his time¹. I once asked him why he selected the term “depression” in the phenomenon he revealed in 1944. Leão replied that the terms extinction, suppression, suppressive area, and inhibition had been suggested, but that spreading depression seemed more appropriate. While answering (as usual), he took notes on a piece of paper with his pencil. Almost 25 years later, I found this note (Figure 2). Spreading depression is a curious transient property of the nervous tissue, which continues to challenge neurologists and physiologists around world².

Figure 1
Professor Aristides A. P. Leão.

Figure 2
Prof. Aristides Leão’s own hand notes. Expressions suggested to name his phenomenon (arrows). Bottom left: exposed cortex with spreading depression passage, and wires connected to the voltmeter. In this, as in the cortex drawn next to it, observe the sequential arrangement of microelectrodes (dotted) that Leão devised to demonstrate the phenomenon’s characteristic spreading.

References

• ¹
  Maranhão-Filho P., Vincent MV. Professor Aristides Leão. Much more than spreading depression. Headache. 2009;49(1):110-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4610.2008.01210.x
  » https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4610.2008.01210.x
• ²
  Ferreira HM. Notas biográficas. In: Academia Brasileira de Ciências. Aristides Azevedo Pacheco Leão Rio de Janeiro: Academia Brasileira de Ciências; 1994:11-12.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Aug 2015

History

• Received
  09 Mar 2015
• Reviewed
  26 Mar 2015
• Accepted
  14 Apr 2015