Schwann Contribution To Cell Theory

Theodor Schwann: A founding father of biology and medicine

Department of Continuing Medical Education, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, Bharat

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17-Nov-2017

Correspondence Accost:
Tony Abraham Thomas
Department of Continuing Medical Instruction, Christian Medical Higher, Vellore - 632 002, Tamil Nadu
Bharat
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Source of Back up: None, Conflict of Involvement: None

DOI: 10.4103/cmi.cmi_81_17

Theodor Schwann is all-time remembered for the eponymous Schwann jail cell that he studied and described in his microscopic studies of nervous tissue. Withal, his most important contribution to science would exist the fact that he was one of the founders of the 'Jail cell doctrine' which proposed that all living beings were made of primal units chosen cells - a foundational principle on which rests much of our understanding of biology. Schwann was one of the showtime scientists to pause abroad from vitalism to lean toward a mechanistic or physico-chemical explanation of living processes which proposed that the biological processes in cells and living beings could be explained by physical and chemic phenomena. He was also involved in describing the physiology of bile and the enzyme pepsin which furthered our agreement of the physiology of digestion. His contributions to biology and medicine has paved the way for the emergence and blooming of several fields of study such every bit microbiology, pathology, histology and the principle of antibiotics.

Keywords: Prison cell doctrine, Schwann jail cell, Theodor Schwann

How to cite this article:
Thomas TA. Theodor Schwann: A founding father of biology and medicine. Curr Med Issues 2017;fifteen:299-301

Introduction

Although most well known for the Schwann cell that bears his proper name, Theodore Schwann, the German physiologist, has a number of discoveries and accomplishments to his credit. He was one of the early scientists at the dawn of biological science as we know it today, involved in clarifying our understanding of the bones and fundamental principles of cellular life, its structure, and its physiology. The "cell doctrine" which proposed that all living beings were fabricated of fundamental units called cells was 1 such foundational principle on which rests much of our understanding of biological science and Schwann was one of the founders of this fundamental principle. He was also involved in the microscopic written report of muscle and nervus cells, blood vessels and the physiology of digestion, making several pathbreaking discoveries during his lifetime, thus laying the foundation for the emergence of other branches of science.

Early Life and Childhood

Theodor Schwann [Effigy 1] was born at Neuss nearly Dusseldorf in Prussia (modern-twenty-four hour period Federal republic of germany) on Dec 7, 1810. His father was a goldsmith and was involved later in the printmaking business organization. In his childhood, young Theodor was known to take been involved in amalgam piddling machines in his childhood, no doubtfulness having inherited a applied mechanical bent of mind from his male parent. After completing his schoolhouse studies in the Jesuit College of Cologne, he came under the tutorship of Johannes Müller at the University of Bonn in 1829. Müller was a pioneer in comparative beefcake and physiology, peculiarly known for his experimental methods and he was to take a significant impact in shaping his protégé. Schwann assisted him in his experiments in physiology and was inspired to pursue a medical career. He had his clinical grooming in Würzburg and went on to the University of Berlin to study once once more under his mentor Müller who had now been appointed equally Professor in Anatomy and Physiology at the university. Schwann's thesis piece of work focused on the necessary function of oxygen in the development of the chicken embryo, and he obtained his MD degree in 1834. Following this, he connected profitable Müller in his physiology experiments, and the iv years spent nether his supervision laid the foundation for the remarkable scientific advances that he would pioneer.^{[1],[2],[three]}

Schwann Cell

Schwann was particularly interested in the cellular construction of muscle and nerve tissues, and this led to his discovery and description of the Schwann cells and the role it played in providing the envelope roofing nerve fibers called the Schwann jail cell sheath (which later came to be known as the myelin sheath). The myelin sheath is a characteristic feature of myelinated nerve fibers in the cardinal nervous system, and its presence has implications on the speed of conductivity of nerve impulses besides other functions. He was also an initiator of work on muscle cell contractility and established the commencement tension-length diagram.^[1],[2],[3] This work was then carried on by Du Bois-Reymond and Helmholtz and paved the way for the development of the field of neuromuscular physiology.

Pepsin

In 1836, while investigating the physiology of digestive processes with Müller, he isolated a chemical substance that was responsible for digestion in the stomach. This enzyme, which he named pepsin, was the get-go enzyme to be prepared from animal tissue.^{[four],[five]}

Vitalism and Spontaneous Generation Discredited

The prevalent agreement of life and biological processes at that time was based on a theory called "Vitalism." Co-ordinate to this theory, "living organisms are fundamentally dissimilar from nonliving entities considering they incorporate some nonphysical element or are governed by unlike principles than are inanimate things."^[6],[7] This principle that gives life was known as the "vital spark" or "free energy," which was considered nonphysical. Schwann was one of the offset scientists to break away from vitalism to lean toward a mechanistic or physicochemical explanation of living processes which proposed that the biological processes in cells and living beings could be explained by concrete and chemical phenomena without the demand for a nonphysical entity. The experimental work of Schwann using yeast cells also paved the way for the discrediting of "spontaneous generation" as a theory to explain the genesis of living processes. In the process, he besides described the nature of the yeast cell.

Cell Doctrine

Schwann was as well one of the founders of the prison cell doctrine, which would revolutionize biology and provide the basis for agreement all of biological science and biological processes. A German language botanist named Matthias Jakob Schleiden [Figure 2] had discovered in 1837, that at that place were fundamental units chosen cells in plants, and this agreed with the findings of Müller and his protégé Schwann who had establish similar cells in their microscopic studies. The substitution of ideas between Schwann and Schleiden was thought to have taken place over a dinner when Schwann realized that he had seen cellular structures in his microscopic studies of animal nervous tissue (notochord), similar to the one his colleague was describing in plant tissues.^{[ane],[ii],[3]} Schwann connected the dots and realized that cells were the "elementary units of life" for both plants and animals and went on to depict this in his work titled "Microscopical Researches into the Accord in the Structure and Growth of Animals and Plants" which was published in German in 1839 and afterward translated into English language in 1847 by the Sydenham Order. This finding was confirmed past many other scientists and led to the understanding that all living organisms were composed of central units called cells and products derived from cells.

Figure 2: Rudolf Virchow (left) and Matthias Jacob Schleiden, cofounders of the Prison cell Doctrine forth with Theodor Schwann.

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In a scientific milieu that breathed the air of vitalism, this was a revolutionary concept that would have far-reaching consequences. Afterward, in 1857, Rudolf Virchow a pathologist, built on this doctrine and gear up along the maxim, "Omnis cellula e cellula"- that every cell arises from another cell. Past 1860, the cell doctrine was established and would keep to open up upwards avenues for new research similar the "germ theory" past Pasteur and blooming of the streams of microbiology, cell biological science, histology, infectious diseases, and pathology. This doctrine also paved the mode to other discoveries that developed our understanding of cellular processes that underlie the physiology of wellness and disease.

Subsequently Bookish Life

In 1838, Schwann was appointed to the chair of Beefcake at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Kingdom of belgium where he served for ix years and during this period wrote a paper describing the physiological role of bile in digestion based on his experiments in dogs. Later this, he went on to join the University of Liége in the twelvemonth 1848, as a professor in Anatomy and Physiology. This latter aspect of his academic life was not marked by the prodigious amount of work and discoveries that marked his earlier tenure in Berlin though he continued to remain in touch with academic science and was involved in perfecting experimental techniques and instruments that aided these experiments.^{[1],[2],[3],[5]}

Theodor Schwann was a devout Catholic and was known to be a gentle soul. In his later years, he grappled with the philosophical and theological implications of his discoveries, and this was to pb to life in isolation, fraught with existential questions which he discussed in several publications and in a treatise.^[5] The debate is far from over and even today scientists, philosophers and theologians continue to grapple with these issues and the new areas of ignorance opened up past every surge of knowledge. Schwann died in Cologne on January 11, 1882, iii years after his retirement.

Conclusion

Despite the relative scientific penury of his later years, there is no doubt that Schwann was a tremendous forcefulness in the advancement of our agreement of the basic tenets and principles of biological science. The cell doctrine, in particular, was a revolutionary step frontwards, and the impact of that alone is however felt in the modernistic age, in the various branches of Biological science and Medicine that we study today. The germ theory of Pasteur, the growth of histology and pathology, principles of antisepsis, and product of antibiotics are only some of the numerous applications that emerged from this doctrine which has contributed tremendously to human health and relief from hurting.

Paul Ehrlich who was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1908 for his work on immunity had this to say of Schwann at his Nobel Lecture – "The history of the knowledge of the phenomena of life and of the organized world can exist divided into 2 primary periods. For a long time beefcake, and especially the beefcake of the human body, was the blastoff and omega of scientific cognition. Further progress but became possible with the discovery of the microscope. A long time had yet to pass until through Schwann the cell was established as the final biological unit of measurement. It would mean bringing coals to Newcastle were I to describe here the immeasurable progress which biology in all its branches owes to the introduction of this concept of the prison cell concept. For this concept is the centrality around which the whole of the modern science of life revolves."^[eight]

Theodor Schwann was a behemothic in his field, and the ripples that Schwann initiated will no doubt continue in the years to come up, spawning new research in medicine and in our understanding of biological life.

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Conflicts of involvement

There are no conflicts of interest.

References

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iii.	Aszmann OC. The life and piece of work of Theodore Schwann. J Reconstr Microsurg 2000;16:291-5. [PUBMED]
4.	Florkin M. Discovery of pepsin by Theodor Schwann. Rev Med Liege 1957;12:139-44. [PUBMED]
v.	Florkin Thou. 1838; year of crunch in the life of Théodore Schwann. Rev Med Liege 1957;12:503-10. [PUBMED]
6.	Bechtel Due west, Richardson RC. Vitalism. In: Craig E, editor. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge; 1998.
7.	Williams EA. Cultural History of Medical Vitalism in Enlightenment Montpellier. Farnham: Ashgate; 2003.
viii.	Ehrlich P. Nobel Lecture: Fractional Cell Functions. Collected in Nobel Lectures: Physiology or Medicine 1901-1921, xi December; 1908. 1967. p. 304. Available from: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1908/ehrlich-lecture.pdf. [Final accessed on 2017 Oct 02].