Antoni Grinyó Garriga (1903-1970), a Catalan neuroscientist who took exile in North America

M. Marco Igual
Neurosciences and History 2024;12(3):142-154

Type of article: ORIGINAL

AUTHOR

M. Marco Igual
Neurology Department. Hospital Universitario Parc Taulí, Sabadell, Spain.
A summary of this study was presented as a lecture at the 22nd International Congress on the History of Catalan Medicine (Sabadell [Spain], 10 and 11 November 2023).

ABSTRACT

The Catalan neuroscientist Antoni Grinyó Garriga was trained in the spirit of the Institut de Fisiologia in Barcelona, which impressed upon him an interest in research, focusing on the nervous system. In the 1930s, he was a lecturer in general physiology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where he was responsible for the teaching of neurosurgery. A general surgeon in the early years of his career, he worked as a neurosurgeon during the Spanish Civil War. In 1939, he took exile in France and Venezuela, moving in 1941 to the United States, where he would remain for nearly 30 years. There, he combined neurosurgery practice with work in neurohistology, in which field he developed a method for staining oligodendroglia with silver ammino tungstate, which is named after him. He also researched radiology contrast agents used in angiography studies, and developed a percutaneous needle for arteriography, which also bears his name. He returned to Barcelona in the late 1960s, and died shortly thereafter.

KEYWORDS

Antoni Grinyó, neurosurgery, oligodendroglia, cerebral angiography, exile, United States

Neurosciences and History 2024;12(3): 142-154