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Query: UMLS:C0153640 (Cerebellum)
 1,777 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Until the end of 18th century, the role of the cerebellum remained obscure. The turning point occurred when Luigi Galvani showed that muscle contraction is due to electricity and Alessandro Volta produced the battery, an apparatus based on the pairing of silver and zinc plates separated by brine soaked paper disks, capable to generate electricity. Luigi Rolando, at beginning of 19th century, was impressed by these two observations. He thought that, since the brain generates the movement, it must contain a device generating electricity. As a battery, it should be formed by overlapping disks and the cerebellum for Rolando seemed to be the right structure for such a characteristic laminar organization. He argued that, if the cerebellum is the battery that produces electricity for muscle activity, its removal would produce paralysis. Consequently, Rolando removed the cerebellum in a young goat and observed that the animal, before dying, could no longer stand up. He concluded that the cerebellum is a motor structure as it generates the electricity which produces the movement. The conclusions of Rolando were criticized by Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens who observed that animals undergoing cerebellectomy were still able to move, even if with problems of balance. Flourens concluded that the role of the cerebellum "is to put in order or to coordinate movements wanted by certain parts of the nervous system, excited by others". It was necessary to wait up to 1891 when Luigi Luciani, observing a dog survived the cerebellectomy, described a triad of symptoms (asthenia, atony and astasis), unquestionably of cerebellar origin.
Cerebellum Ataxias 2015
PMID:Where did the motor function of the cerebellum come from? 2633 Oct 53

Holmes proposed not only the term ataxia, but also opposite clinical signs related to muscle recruitment, which have escaped clinical attention; (1) asthenia, representing delay in initiating muscle contraction and slowness in attaining exertion of full power, and (2) adventitiousness, representing adventitious movements. Recent physiological studies have shown that cerebellar outputs are modified by release or facilitation of Purkinje cell-mediated inhibition on dentate neurons. We believe that asthenia and adventitiousness, which correlate with deficits in the control of disinhibition and inhibition, respectively, deserve more attention in clinical examination.
Cerebellum Ataxias 2015
PMID:Overlooked Holmes' clinical signs: reevaluation by recent physiological findings. 2655 Apr 82