2016, Vol.29, No.2

Anatomy & Biological Anthropology 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.33

pISSN : 2671-5651 / eISSN : 2671-566X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/aba

Leonardo da Vinci is remembered as the greatest genius of the Renaissance. He left outstanding achievements as an artist, scientist and inventor, and contributes up to today’s science. He ranks the best in a variety of fields, such as botany, mathematics, geology, astronomy, geometry and optics. It has well known that Leonardo is an artist, scientist, inventor and philosopher. And he was a great anatomist that dissected dead bodies and animals directly and left many anatomical drawings. He took an interest in anatomy from the point of view of the artist, which is why the human body structure and function to know the sakes were “ignorant of the anatomy should not be upset.” Over time, he became interested in the structure and function of the body, even get the human body in a difficult environment; he dissected many the human bodies directly. His scientific inquiry and infatuation made him as an advanced pioneer for more than 100 years, and got enough level to surpass the artistry. Leonardo left about 1,800 anatomical figures of the muscular, skeletal, vascular, nervous and urogenital system, and they are also very scientific and high artistic achievements. The aim of this article is to take a look at Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical achievements and thoughts. In addition, the goal is to knowledge today’s anatomists about Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing achievements as a great pioneer in anatomy.

The spinal cord is part of the central nervous system, and its caudal end is named as the conus medullaris. Many researchers have reported the tip level of the conus medullaris by magnetic resonance imaging studies; others by cadaver dissection. The tip level of magnetic resonance imaging studies seemed to be higher than that of cadaver studies. We evaluated the tip level the conus medullaris with magnetic resonance imaging and cadaver dissection in Korean adult population. MR data were scanned with T1-weighted, mid-sagittal magnetic resonance imaging of 248 living persons (mean age, 42.3±16.0 years; range, 12-85 years) and cadaver data were collected by dissections of 118 cadavers (mean age, 56.0±14.9 years; range, 16-94 years). The mean level of conus tip was found to be at the middle third of 1st lumbar vertebra (range, lower third T12 - lower third L2) from magnetic resonance imaging study and the upper third of 2nd lumbar vertebra (range, lower third T12 - lower third L3) from cadaver dissection study. The tip level of conus medullaris from magnetic resonance imaging study was higher than that from cadaver dissection study (p<0.05).

The large volume of reactive oxygen species are generated during reperfusion after transient or postprocedural ischemia, which leads to cell injury. This ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury may cause local and even systemic injuries. Thus, the need to reduce the IR injury has been highlighted and in this regard studies have demonstrated the ischemic preconditioning (IP) in which short ischemia and reperfusion are repeated before ischemia. Such IP is known to protect the tissues from IR injury by reducing inflammation response during ischemia. Thus, this study was based on IP known to protect the tissue with developing the mechanism of resistance to ischemia and reperfusion injury in cellular tissue. As the substance that plays an important role in the inflammatory response during IR injury is cytokines, this study was intended to review and discuss the methodologies of IP as well as to analyze the correlation of its effects on the expression of cytokines. Left common iliac artery in male mice of which weight was from 40 g to 45 g, was treated for ischemia. The animal groups consisted of ischemia (IC) group receiving 2-hour ischemic treatment alone; IP group receiving short 5-minute ischemia and reperfusion treatments repeated three times; and, ischemic preconditioning-ischemia (IP-IC) group receiving IP treatment followed by 2-hour ischemic treatment. Following these treatments in each group, reperfusion for intergroup comparisons was carried out at 30 minutes, and 1, 2 and 4 hours. The results of this study were as follows: First, the expression level of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1β was the highest in IC group receiving 2-hour ischemic treatment alone (p<.001). Second, the expression level of anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-4 was the highest in the IP group (p<.001). Third, the expression level of anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10 was the highest in the IP group (p<.001). In conclusion, even though the results had the degree of difference, the expression level of pro-inflammation cytokine, IL-1β in IC group was significantly lower than that in IP group, and the expression levels of antiinflammatory cytokines, IL-4 and IL-10 in IP were significantly higher than those in IC group and IP-IC group.