Professor Uchimura, Ammon's Horn Sclerosis, and the German Influence on Japanese Neuroscience

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, the German laboratories of Spielmeyer and the Vogts proposed competing pathogenetic theories for Ammon's horn sclerosis. Spielmeyer's vascular pathogenesis theory was initially preferred, but the Vogts' Pathoklise theory was later favored. From 1925 to 1927, Uchimura worked in the Spielmeyer's laboratory. There, Uchimura first described the detailed vascular anatomy of the hippocampus. His work formed the basis for the vascular theory of Ammon's horn sclerosis. Because of Germany's prominence in medical science and Japan's preference for the German medical system, Uchimura among many young Japanese medical scientists, travelled to the institutes of German-speaking Europe for training.