Drawing by Camillo Golgi of a hippocampus stained with the silver nitrate method

Drawing of a Purkinje cell in the cerebellum cortex done by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, clearly demonstrating the power of Golgi's staining method to reveal fine detail

Golgi's method is a nervous tissue staining technique discovered by Italian physician and scientist Camillo Golgi (1843-1926) in 1873. It was initially named the black reaction (la reazione nera) by Golgi, but it became later better known as the Golgi stain or method. The location of the hippocampus in the human brain. ... Image File history File links PurkinjeCellCajal. ... Image File history File links PurkinjeCellCajal. ... Drawing of pigeon Purkinje cells (A) by Santiago Ramon y Cajal Purkinje cells are a class of GABAergic neuron located in the cerebellar cortex. ... Figure 1a: A human brain, with the cerebellum in purple. ... Figure 1a: A human brain, with the cerebellum in purple. ... The nervous system of an animal coordinates the activity of the muscles, monitors the organs, constructs and processes input from the senses, and initiates actions. ... ... Physician examining a child A physician is a person who practices medicine. ... Albert Einstein is almost without question, currently the most widely recognized scientist among the general public. ... Camillo Golgi, 1906. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calaber). ...

Golgi' staining was famously used by Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) to discover a number of novel facts about the organization of the nervous system, inspiring the birth of the neuron doctrine. A neuroanatomist is a person who studies the branch of anatomy that deals with the nervous system. ... Santiago Ramón y Cajal Santiago Ramón y Cajal (May 1, 1852 – October 17, 1934), Nobel laureate, 1906, was a Spanish histologist and is considered to be the father of modern neuroscience. ... Ramón y Cajals drawing of the cells of the chick cerebellum, from Estructura de los centros nerviosos de las aves, Madrid, 1905. ...

Mechanism

The cells in nervous tissue are densely packed and little information on their structures and interconnections can be obtained if all the cells are stained. Furthermore, its thin filamentary extensions, the axon and the dendrites are too slender and transparent to be seen with normal staining techniques. Golgi's method stains a limited number of cells at random in their entirety. The mechanism by which this happens is still largely unknown. Axons and dendrites, as well as the cell soma, are clearly stained in brown and black and can be followed in their entire length, which allowed neuroanatomists to track connections between neurons and to make visible the complex networking structure of many parts of the brain and spinal cord. An axon, or nerve fiber, is a long slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that conducts electrical impulses away from the neurons cell body or soma. ... The term Dendrite stems from the Greek word dendron (literally “tree”), and typically refers to the branched projections of a neuron that act to conduct the electrical stimulation received from other cells to and from the cell body, or soma of the neuron from which the dendrites project. ... Comparative brain sizes In animals, the brain, or encephalon (Greek for in the head), is the control center of the central nervous system. ... Cross-section through cervical spinal cord. ...

Golgi's staining is achieved by impregnating fixed nervous tissue with potassium dichromate and silver nitrate. Cells thus stained are filled by microcrystallization of silver chromate. Potassium dichromate, K2Cr2O7 is used in oxidation reactions. ... R-phrases , S-phrases , , , , Flash point non-flammable Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... Crystal (disambiguation) Insulin crystals A crystal is a solid in which the constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are packed in a regularly ordered, repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. ...

Technique

According to SynapseWeb [1], this is the recipe for Golgi's staining technique:

1. Immerse a block (approx. 10x5 mm) of formol-fixed (or paraformaldehyde- glutaraldehyde-perfused) brain tissue into a 2% aqueous solution of potassium dichromate for 2 days
2. Dry the block shortly with filter paper.
3. Immerse the block into a 2% aqueous solution of silver nitrate for another 2 days.
4. Cut sections approx. 20-100 µm thick.
5. Dehydrate quickly in ethanol, clear and mount (e.g., into Depex).

The chemical compound formaldehyde (also known as methanal), is a gas with a strong pungent smell. ... Polyoxymethylene, also known as acetal resin, polytrioxane, polyformaldehyde, and paraformaldehyde, is an engineering plastic used to make gears, bushings and other mechanical parts ( nylon, teflon, UHMWPE). ... Glutaraldehyde is a colourless liquid with a pungent odor used to sterilize medical and dental equipment. ... Potassium dichromate, K2Cr2O7 is used in oxidation reactions. ... Filter paper is any of various grades of coarse unfinished paper which can be used to separate solids from a liquid in which they are suspended. ... R-phrases , S-phrases , , , , Flash point non-flammable Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, is a flammable, colorless chemical compound, one of the alcohols that is most often found in alcoholic beverages. ...

Quote

Cajal said of the Golgi method:

I expressed the surprise which I experienced upon seeing with my own eyes the wonderful revelatory powers of the chrome-silver reaction and the absence of any excitement in the scientific world aroused by its discovery.

Recuerdos de mi vida, Vol. 2, Historia de mi labor científica. Madrid: Moya, 1917, p. 76.

See also

• Silver staining

Staining is a biochemical technique of adding a class-specific (DNA, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) dye to a substrate to qualify or quantify the presence of a specific compound. ...

External links

• Photomicrograph of a cortex cell stained with Golgi's. IHC Image Gallery.
• Golgi impregnations. Images of the brain of flies.
• Visualization of dendritic spines using Golgi Method. SynapseWeb. Includes a time-lapse study of Golgi impregnation.
• Berrebi, Albert: Cell Biology of Neurons: Structure and Methods of Study. (in PDF)
• Valverde, Facundo. Golgi Atlas of the Post Natal Mouse Brain.