Pineal gland, perennial puzzle

Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
F Schiller

Abstract

Since antiquity this tiny intracranial appendicular organ has aroused sexual connotations and denials. Controversial and enigmatic, it played a significant part in the development of endocrinology and even neurosurgery. What was its histology, what was its role as a gland so intimately attached to the brain? What did comparative anatomists make of it in the light of its function as a 'third eye?' Mysticism and the famous Cartesian apothegm placed it in the center of Eastern and Western approaches to the mind-body problem and to mental disorders. The latter were connected with the common calcifications, so helpful in the radiological diagnosis of brain shifts due to mass lesions. Undefeated, even spurred by continuing uncertainties, researchers keep looking into this 'photo-neuro-endocrine transducer.'

References

Jan 1, 1983·Endocrine Reviews·S A Binkley
Oct 20, 2001·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·T Gelfand
Dec 1, 1958·The British Journal of Ophthalmology·L H COLLIERB R JONES
Jul 1, 1961·Scientific American·A B LERNER
Jul 1, 1965·Scientific American·R J WURTMAN, J AXELROD

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Citations

Jul 1, 2011·Journal of Clinical Neuroscience : Official Journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia·F López-MuñozC Alamo
Jun 21, 2011·Neurología : publicación oficial de la Sociedad Española de Neurología·F López-MuñozC Alamo
Mar 12, 2015·Child's Nervous System : ChNS : Official Journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery·Mohammadali M ShojaR Shane Tubbs
May 30, 1998·Brain and Cognition·C U Smith

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