In memoriam of a master of neurogastroenterology: Marcello Tonini (1944–2010)

Abstract

The illustrious scientist Marcello Tonini (Fig. 1), Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Pharmacotoxicology, at the University of Pavia, Italy, passed away on April 29, 2010. He was born in Sassoferrato, a small village close to Ancona, Italy, on December 14, 1944. Since the beginning of his academic career in the early 1970s, Marcello showed a tremendous passion and commitment for research in the field of enteric neuroscience. His first appointment was at the University of Rome in the laboratories of Professor Aldo Torsoli (a pioneer of modern gastroenterology). There, Marcello became familiar with in vitro preparations for the assessment of the gastrointestinal (GI) neuromuscular function. The creative contribution of Marcello in Torsoli’s laboratory was soon noticed by Professor Antonio Crema, a renowned pharmacologist who had worked years before with Edith Bulbring and who described the effect of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) on intestinal peristalsis. In 1971 when Prof. Crema moved to the Institute of Pharmacology of the University of Pavia to establish a group of scientists devoted to the study of GI pharmacology, he immediately recruited, the young, enthusiastic, bright and talented Marcello Tonini. Marcello settled in Pavia where he developed his reputation in the field of enteric neuroscience with a special interest in GI physiology, pharmacology and pathophysiology of such conditions as acid-related diseases, functional disorders, paraneoplastic syndromes, enteric neuropathies and inflammatory bowel diseases. The milestones of Marcello’s achievements span at least three decades beginning with the mid 1970s when he spent the first period in the United States working with his mentor and good friend Alan North (at that time based at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, in Maywood, IL). In a seminal paper in the British Journal of Pharmacology, they described the effect and mechanism of action of narcotic analgesics using the intracellular electrophysiological recording of myenteric neurons of the guinea pig ileum. Once back in Pavia, Marcello produced many insightful results regarding neurogenic control of intestinal muscle contraction with special emphasis on peristalsis. Using elegant pharmacological approaches, he made significant contributions to the current knowledge on the complex neural mechanisms controlling gut motor function by establishing roles for purinergic, cholinergic, GABAergic and serotonergic pathways. During this stage of his career, Marcello visited, in different occasions, the Department of Human Physiology and Centre for Neuroscience at the Flinders University in South Australia directed by Marcello Costa with whom he established a lifelong scientific collaboration and fraternal friendship. Together, the ‘two Marcellos’ published several seminal papers identifying the neural pathways controlling intestinal peristalsis. In order to perform such experiments, they constructed their own equipment (e.g. the partitioned organ bath) and you may imagine the colorful Italian discussions during experiments! Probably one of Marcello’s most significant contributions to translational medicine pertains to his work on serotonergic drugs. In this field, Marcello produced key papers on serotonin receptors which make significant contributions to the development of a number of drugs used for the treatment of GI motility disorders. Marcello’s work in the field of neurogastroenterology has been published in high level journals as research papers, invited reviews and book chapters (approximately 250 publications altogether). His outstanding scientific achievements are witnessed by the several prestigious invited lectures given nationally and internationally and by the membership to several scientific Address for Correspondence Roberto De Giorgio, MD, PhD, Department of Clinical Medicine, Building 5, St.Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Via Massarenti, 9 – 40138 Bologna, Italy. Tel: +39 051 636 3558; fax: +39 051 34 5864; e-mail: roberto.degiorgio@unibo.it Neurogastroenterol Motil (2010) 22, 942–943 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2982.2010.01544.x