Melan-

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A Moment in History

Georg Eduard Von Rindfleisch
(1836 – 1908)

German pathologist and histologist of Bavarian nobility ancestry. Rindfleisch studied medicine in Würzburg, Berlin, and Heidelberg, earning his MD in 1859 with the thesis “De Vasorum Genesi” (on the generation of vessels) under the tutelage of Rudolf Virchow (1821 - 1902). He then continued as a assistant to Virchow in a newly founded institute in Berlin. He then moved to Breslau in 1861 as an assistant to Rudolf Heidenhain (1834–1897), becoming a professor of pathological anatomy. In 1865 he became full professor in Bonn and in 1874 in Würzburg, where a new pathological institute was built according to his design (completed in 1878), where he worked until his retirement in 1906.

He was the first to describe the inflammatory background of multiple sclerosis in 1863, when he noted that demyelinated lesions have in their center small vessels that are surrounded by a leukocyte inflammatory infiltrate.

After extensive investigations, he suspected an infectious origin of tuberculosis - even before Robert Koch's detection of the tuberculosis bacillus in 1892. Rindfleisch 's special achievement is the description of the morphologically conspicuous macrophages in typhoid inflammation. His distinction between myocardial infarction and myocarditis in 1890 is also of lasting importance.

Associated eponyms

"Rindfleisch's folds": Usually a single semilunar fold of the serous surface of the pericardium around the origin of the aorta. Also known as the plica semilunaris aortæ.

"Rindfleisch's cells": Historical (and obsolete) name for eosinophilic leukocytes.

Personal note: G. Rindfleisch’s book “Traité D' Histologie Pathologique” 2nd edition (1873) is now part of my library. This book was translated from German to French by Dr. Frédéric Gross (1844-1927) , Associate Professor of the Medicine Faculty in Nancy, France. The book is dedicated to Dr. Theodore Billroth (1829-1894), an important surgeon whose pioneering work on subtotal gastrectomies paved the way for today’s robotic bariatric surgery. Dr. Miranda.

Sources:
1. "Stedmans Medical Eponyms" Forbis, P.; Bartolucci, SL; 1998 Williams and Wilkins
2. "Rindfleisch, Georg Eduard von (bayerischer Adel?)" Deutsche Biographie
3. "The pathology of multiple sclerosis and its evolution" Lassmann H. (1999) Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 354 (1390): 1635–40.
4. “Traité D' Histologie Pathologique” G.E.
Rindfleisch 2nd Ed (1873) Ballieres et Fils. Paris, Translated by F Gross

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Details: Written by: Efrain A. Miranda, Ph.D.; Published: January 19, 2015; Hits: 8835

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The prefix [melan-] evolves from the Greek [μέλας] (m?las) meaning “black”. It can also be used as a root term and is found in many medical words as follows:

Melanocyte: The suffix [ –(o)cyte] means cell. A black cell containing melanin, a black pigment
Melanoma: The suffix [-oma] means “mass” or “tumor”. A black tumor, or a mass of melanocytes, as shown in the accompanying image.
Melanomata: The suffix [-(o)mata] is the plural form of the suffix [-oma]. Multiple melanomas
Melanin: Name given to the pigment that gives melanocytes its dark, black color
Melancholy: It is also referred to as [melancholia]. The root term [-chol-] means “bile” and the word itself means “black bile”. In the old physiological theory of “the four humors” black bile represented a bodily fluid that in excess could lead to a dark, pensive frame of mind and eventually depression.

It is also found in the medical word [melena] referring to dark, blackened feces as a result of digested blood in the feces, pathognomonic of bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract. This word evolved from the early Latin (and later British English) spelling of this prefix as [melena], later eliminating the “a”, ending as [melen-]

Melan-

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