Vasily Danilewsky

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Vasily Iakovlevich Danilewsky
Даниле́вский Васи́лий Я́ковлевич
Danilevskiy VYa.jpg
Born(1852-01-13)13 January 1852
Died25 February 1939(1939-02-25) (aged 87)
Kharkiv
NationalityUkrainian
Citizenship Russian Empire
Alma materUniversity of Kharkiv
Known for Nervous system and bird parasites
Scientific career
Fields Physiology and parasitology
Institutions University of Kharkiv
Kharkiv Medical Institute
Danilevsky Institute of Endocrine Pathology Problems
Thesis Investigations into the physiology of the brain  (1877)
Author abbrev. (zoology) Danilewsky

Vasily Iakovlevich Danilewsky (variously spelled Vasili Yakovlevich Danilewsky or Vasili Yakolevich Danilevski or Vasily Yakovlevich Danilevsky, Ukrainian : Василь Якович Данилевський) (January 25 [ O.S. January 13] 1852 – 25 February 1939) was a Ukrainian physician, physiologist and parasitologist. [1] He was professor of physiology at University of Kharkiv and then at Kharkiv Medical Institute. He helped to establish the Danilevsky Institute of Endocrine Pathology Problems, which he directed until his death.

Contents

Danilewsky made important works in physiology, particularly in neurobiology. He was the first to give comprehensive description of nerve impulse in the brain of dogs. He also worked on the physiological responses of hypnosis in animals and humans. He was one of the pioneers in study of insulin action. However his most well-known contribution is in parasitology. He was the first to investigate systematically on blood parasites of vertebrates such as birds, reptiles, and amphibians. He is the binomial authority of a number of bird parasites. His paper titled "About Blood Parasites (Haematozoa)" published in 1884 in the Russian Medicine journal is regarded as the foundation of modern parasitology in bird malaria and other protozoan infections.

A species of blood parasite in bird Haemoproteus danilewskyi is named after him. [2]

Biography

Danilewsky was born in Kharkiv (in the Russian Empire, now Ukraine), and was educated there. He graduated from the University of Kharkiv in 1874, and earned his doctoral degree in 1877, at the age of 25, upon the thesis Investigations into the physiology of the brain. [3] [4] He was professor of physiology at the University of Kharkiv during 1883 to 1909 and 1917 to 1921. From 1921 he transferred to Kharkiv Medical Institute. In 1927 the Russian Academy of Sciences established Danilevsky Institute of Endocrine Pathology Problems, which he directed until his death.

Contributions

Danilewsky was one of the pioneers of neurobiology. He was the first to describe the nerve impulse system in the brain of dogs. However, his most notable works were in parasitology. In 1884, he was the first to observe the species of Haemoproteus , parasitic protozoan in the blood of birds, and established the order Haemospororida for it. [5] He helped to establish a new genus Leucocytozoon (but did not give the name). He was the first to observe the genus in 1889. The first species described in 1898 was even named primarily after him as Leukocytozoen Danilewskyi. [6] [7]

Danilewsky was the first to describe the bird malaria. He discovered the symptoms of malaria in birds such as acute anaemia, enlargement of liver and spleen, accumulation of pigments in the blood cells. He also gave the first clue to the similarity of malaria of birds to that of humans. [1] (This idea was followed by Ronald Ross in 1898 who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for experimentally demonstrating the principle.) He identified the bird malaria parasites as "pseudovacules", and by 1885 he recognised for the first the existence of three separate genera of protozoan parasites in birds, now known as Plasmodium , Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon. However, his publication was in Russian and therefore was not accessible to outside Russia, until they were translated into French in a three-volume book La Parasitologie Comparée du Sang in 1889. [8]

Danilewsky described and discovered the protozoan Trypanosoma avium in 1885, the first known flagellate protozoan parasite in birds. [9] [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran</span> French physician (1845–1922)

Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran was a French physician who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1907 for his discoveries of parasitic protozoans as causative agents of infectious diseases such as malaria and trypanosomiasis. Following his father, Louis Théodore Laveran, he took up military medicine as his profession. He obtained his medical degree from University of Strasbourg in 1867.

<i>Plasmodium</i> Genus of parasitic protists that can cause malaria

Plasmodium is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of Plasmodium species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vertebrate host during a blood meal. Parasites grow within a vertebrate body tissue before entering the bloodstream to infect red blood cells. The ensuing destruction of host red blood cells can result in malaria. During this infection, some parasites are picked up by a blood-feeding insect, continuing the life cycle.

<i>Trypanosoma</i> Genus of parasitic flagellate protist in the Kinetoplastea class

Trypanosoma is a genus of kinetoplastids, a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. Trypanosoma is part of the phylum Euglenozoa. The name is derived from the Greek trypano- (borer) and soma (body) because of their corkscrew-like motion. Most trypanosomes are heteroxenous and most are transmitted via a vector. The majority of species are transmitted by blood-feeding invertebrates, but there are different mechanisms among the varying species. Trypanosoma equiperdum is spread between horses and other equine species by sexual contact. They are generally found in the intestine of their invertebrate host, but normally occupy the bloodstream or an intracellular environment in the vertebrate host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Battista Grassi</span> Italian physician and zoologist (1854–1925)

Giovanni Battista Grassi was an Italian physician and zoologist, best known for his pioneering works on parasitology, especially on malariology. He was Professor of Comparative Zoology at the University of Catania from 1883, and Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Sapienza University of Rome from 1895 until his death. His first major research on the taxonomy and biology of termites earned him the Royal Society's Darwin Medal in 1896.

<i>Trypanosoma evansi</i> Contagious protist

Trypanosoma evansi is a parasitic species of excavate trypanosome in the genus Trypanosoma that is one cause of surra in animals. Discovered by Griffith Evans in 1880 at Dera Ismail Khan, it is the first known trypanosome that causes infection. It is a common parasite in India and Iran and causes acute disease in camels and horses, and chronic disease in cattle and buffalo. In Pakistan, it has been found to be the most prevalent trypanosome species in donkeys. It is now established to infect other mammals, including humans.

Plasmodium relictum is a species in the genus Plasmodium, subgenus Haemamoeba.

<i>Leucocytozoon</i> Genus of protists

Leucocytozoon is a genus of parasitic alveolates belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa.

Megaloschizonts are large schizonts that produce extremely high numbers of merozoites. They are found in various species of the Phylum Apicomplexa. The Apicomplexa phylum contains several parasitic protozoans. They have a very complex life cycle that includes several stages. Megaloschizonts and the smaller schizonts are the part of the life cycle that takes place inside the infected host organism and operates as an asexually reproductive cell. Megaloschizonts appear as grey-white nodules found in the smooth muscle of major organs, such as the heart, liver, lung or spleen.

Avian malaria is a parasitic disease of birds, caused by parasite species belonging to the genera Plasmodium and Hemoproteus. The disease is transmitted by a dipteran vector including mosquitoes in the case of Plasmodium parasites and biting midges for Hemoproteus. The range of symptoms and effects of the parasite on its bird hosts is very wide, from asymptomatic cases to drastic population declines due to the disease, as is the case of the Hawaiian honeycreepers. The diversity of parasites is large, as it is estimated that there are approximately as many parasites as there are species of hosts. As research on human malaria parasites became difficult, Dr. Ross studied avian malaria parasites. Co-speciation and host switching events have contributed to the broad range of hosts that these parasites can infect, causing avian malaria to be a widespread global disease, found everywhere except Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Underground mosquito</span> Species of fly

The London Underground mosquito, Culex pipiens f. molestus, is a form of mosquito which assaulted people sleeping in the London Underground railway system during the Blitz. It has a worldwide distribution and long predates the existence of the London Underground. It was first described in the 18th century based on Egyptian specimens by the biologist Peter Forsskål (1732–1763). He named it Culex molestus due to its voracious biting, but later biologists reclassified it as Culex pipiens f. molestus because there were no morphological differences between it and Culex pipiens.

<i>Haemoproteus</i> Genus of single-celled organisms

Haemoproteus is a genus of alveolates that are parasitic in birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Its name is derived from Greek: haima 'blood' and Proteus, a sea god that had the power to assume various shapes. The name Haemoproteus was first used in the description of H. columbae in the blood of the pigeon Columba livia by Walther Kruse in 1890. This was also the first description of this genus. Two other genera—Halteridium and Simondia—are now considered to be synonyms of Haemoproteus.

Hematozoa is a subclass of blood parasites of the Apicomplexa clade. Well known examples include the Plasmodium spp. which cause malaria in humans and Theileria which causes theileriosis in cattle. A large number of species are known to infect birds and are transmitted by insect vectors. The pattern in which Haematozoa infect a host cell depends on the genera of the blood parasite. Plasmodium and Leucozytozoon displace the nucleus of the host cell so that the parasite can take control of the cell where as Hemoproteus completely envelops the nucleus in a host cell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haemosporida</span> Order of protists

The Haemosporida are an order of intraerythrocytic parasitic alveolates.

Plasmodium tejerai is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Haemamoeba.

Lankesterella is a genus in the phylum Apicomplexa. Species in this genus infect amphibians, reptiles and birds.

Haemoproteus vacuolatus is a parasite. It was found in Andropadus latirostris in Ghana and Cameroon.

Haemoproteus homovelans is a parasite first found in the Grey-faced Woodpecker, Picus canus, in Bulgaria. Haemoproteus homovelans has circumnuclear gametocytes that lack volutin granules. The species is similar to Haemoproteus velans, yet the latter's gametocytes are overfilled with volutin.

Haemoproteus concavocentralis is a parasite first found in the hawfinch in Bulgaria. The species can be distinguished from other avian haemoproteids due to an unfilled concave space between the central part of its advanced gametocytes and erythrocyte nucleus.

Leucocytozoon grallariae is a parasite found in non-migratory highland passeriforms in the families Grallariidae and Cotingidae. The species was first described by Ingrid A. Lotta, Valkiūnas Gediminas, M. Andreína Pacheco, Ananías A. Escalante, Sandra Rocío Hernández and Nubia E. Matta in 2019. Leucocytozoon grallariae is spread throughout in the Andean mountain ranges normally in humid forests and scrublands of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.

References

  1. 1 2 Valkiunas, Gediminas (2004). Avian Malaria Parasites and Other Haemosporidia. London: CRC Press. pp. 9–10. ISBN   978-0-2036-4379-2.
  2. "Haemoproteus danilewskyi". ZipcodeZoo.com. David Stang. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  3. Eckert, Konrad Maurer ; Nicolas Lang ; Joachim (2005). Praxis der evozierten Potentiale : SEP - AEP - MEP - VEP ; mit 60 Tabellen (2 ed.). Darmstadt: Steinkopff. doi:10.1007/3-7985-1536-0_3. ISBN   978-3-7985-1500-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Allefeld, C.; Graben, P. Beim (2008). Kurths, J. (ed.). Advanced Methods of Electrophysiological Signal Analysis and Symbol Grounding? : Dynamical Systems Approaches to Language. New York: Nova Science Publishers. p. 254. ISBN   9781604560220.
  5. Valkiūnas, Gediminas (2011). "Haemosporidian vector research: marriage of molecular and microscopical approaches is essential". Molecular Ecology. 20 (15): 3084–3086. Bibcode:2011MolEc..20.3084V. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05187.x . PMID   21901870. S2CID   30884814.
  6. Valkiunas, Gediminas (1999). "Leucocytozoon (Protista, Haemosporida): proposed adoption of BerestneflF, 1904 as the author and of Leukocytozoen danilewskyi Ziemann, 1898 as the type species". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 56 (3): 168. doi: 10.5962/bhl.part.23060 .
  7. Bennett, GF; Laird, MS; Khan, RA; Herman, CM (1975). "Remarks on the status of the genus Leucocytozoon Sambon, 1908". The Journal of Protozoology. 22 (1): 24–30. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.1975.tb00939.x. PMID   804039.
  8. Cox, Francis EG (2010). "History of the discovery of the malaria parasites and their vectors". Parasites & Vectors. 3 (1): 5. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-3-5 . PMC   2825508 . PMID   20205846.
  9. Baker, JR (1956). "Studies on Trypanosoma avium Danilewsky 1885. II. Transmission by Ornithomyia avicularia L.". Parasitology. 46 (3–4): 321–34. doi:10.1017/S0031182000026536. PMID   13378882. S2CID   6722945.
  10. Baker, JR (1956). "Studies on Trypanosoma avium Danilewsky 1885. III. Life cycle in vertebrate and invertebrate hosts". Parasitology. 46 (3–4): 335–52. doi:10.1017/S0031182000026548. PMID   13378883. S2CID   37558911.
  11. Bennett, Gordon F. (1970). "Danilewsky in the avian host". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 48 (4): 803–807. doi:10.1139/z70-140.