Miguel Rolando Covian
Encyclopedia
Miguel Rolando Covian was an Argentine
-Brazil
ian physiologist, medical educator and writer.
Covian was born in Rufino
, Santa Fé Province
, Argentina
, on September 7, 1913. He studied at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires
, where, while a student, he worked also as a teaching assistant in the Chair of Physiology
. He graduated in 1942 and soon thereafter started a full time career in research on Physiology, initially in collaboration with Bernardo Houssay
, the great Argentine physiologist, who later was awarded with the 1947 Nobel Prize
in Medicine and Physiology for his investigations on the interaction between the hypophysis
and the pancreas
in the control of glucose
metabolism
. From 1945 to 1948, Covian worked at the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine of Buenos Aires, a private research institution which Houssay and co-workers had founded in 1944, due to his dismissal from the University due to political persecution by the dictatorial regime of Juan Perón
. There, he worked also with another eminent physiologist, Eduardo Braun-Menéndez
, and presented his doctoral dissertation, in 1948.
After his doctorate, Covian went for a post-doctoral fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation
, at the Johns Hopkins University
, Baltimore
, USA. There he worked on the physiology of hemidecorticated animals and neurovegetative control, with several important physiologists, such as Phillip Bard, Carl Richter and Vernon Mountcastle
. He returned three years later to Argentina, to continue his participation at the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine, where, in 1952, he established the first experimental laboratory of neurophysiology
of Argentina.
In 1955, Covian was already well known internationally for his research on the neurophysiology of the limbic system
. He accepted an invitation from Dr. Zeferino Vaz
to join the faculty of the recently founded School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
of the University of São Paulo
, at Ribeirão Preto
, São Paulo
, Brazil
, as the chairman of the Department of Physiology, a post he held until 1974 and from 1978 to 1982. Under Covian's able and humane leadership
, the Department would grow to become one of the main excellence centers of research and education in Latin America
, with an excellent scientific staff, with prominent researchers such as Eduardo Krieger
, Renato Migliorini
, César Timo-Iaria, José Antunes Rodrigues, José Venâncio Pereira Leite and fellow Argentines Maria Carmelo Lico, Andrés Negro-Vilar and Ricardo F. Marseillan. Covian was involved in all aspects of scientific and educational progress in the physiological sciences. It was there too that Covian founded the first Brazilian laboratory of neurophysiology.
Covian was extremely active as a scientific leader. He was one of the founders and a president of the Brazilian Society of Physiology
. He also was a strong force behind the graduate programs of the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, and an innovator in the use of new approaches to the teaching of physiology. He was active in the editorial boards of several international scientific journals, such as "Physiology & Behavior" and the monograph series of "Progress in Brain Research", a member to several international committees, the International Brain Research Organization
and the Latin American Federation of Physiological Sciences.
Covian's main achievement in neurophysiology was the systematic study, with a large group of collaborators, of the neural basis of thirst
, of neuroendocrine regulation of hydroelectrolytic homeostasis
, and of appetitive behavior, i.e., the behavior which permit animals to seek and to ingest particular foodstuffs or diet
components, an activity which depends on many external and internal factors. The animal model
used by Covian's group was the selective ingestion of water
versus salt water
in albino Norwegian rats, which they investigated with many approaches and tools, such as after lesions and stimulations of the central nervous system
, measurement of metabolic
activity, manipulation of the activity of the endocrine system
, the effect of several kinds of drugs
, etc. He also studied the role of the limbic system
(particularly the septal area) on many behaviors and functions, such as the control of blood pressure
, the neuroendocrine regulation of reproductive behavior, etc.
Prof. Miguel Covian was also a humanist
, deeply interested in the history
and philosophy of science
, history of medicine
, epistemology, religion
, classical music and erudite art
.
He retired at the mandatory age of 70, as a professor emeritus, but continued to appear regularly his office in the department. Honored by his many colleagues, pupils and friends, Miguel Covian died on February 5, 1992, following complications of a stroke
.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
-Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian physiologist, medical educator and writer.
Covian was born in Rufino
Rufino, Santa Fe
Rufino is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It has 18,372 inhabitants as per the . It lies on the southwest of the province, from the provincial capital Santa Fe, near the borders with Córdoba and Buenos Aires , on the intersection of National Routes 33 and 7.The town was founded by...
, Santa Fé Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, on September 7, 1913. He studied at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
, where, while a student, he worked also as a teaching assistant in the Chair of Physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
. He graduated in 1942 and soon thereafter started a full time career in research on Physiology, initially in collaboration with Bernardo Houssay
Bernardo Houssay
-External links:* * . WhoNamedIt.* . Nobel Foundation....
, the great Argentine physiologist, who later was awarded with the 1947 Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in Medicine and Physiology for his investigations on the interaction between the hypophysis
Hypophysis
Hypophysis may refer to:*Pituitary gland*Hypophysis...
and the pancreas
Pancreas
The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as a digestive organ, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that assist...
in the control of glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
metabolism
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
. From 1945 to 1948, Covian worked at the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine of Buenos Aires, a private research institution which Houssay and co-workers had founded in 1944, due to his dismissal from the University due to political persecution by the dictatorial regime of Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
. There, he worked also with another eminent physiologist, Eduardo Braun-Menéndez
Eduardo Braun-Menéndez
Eduardo Braun-Menéndez was a noted Argentine physiologist.-Life and work:Born in Punta Arenas, Chile, he was a naturalized Argentine citizen from a very early age, and was raised in Buenos Aires....
, and presented his doctoral dissertation, in 1948.
After his doctorate, Covian went for a post-doctoral fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
, at the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, USA. There he worked on the physiology of hemidecorticated animals and neurovegetative control, with several important physiologists, such as Phillip Bard, Carl Richter and Vernon Mountcastle
Vernon Mountcastle
Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle is Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University.He discovered and characterized the columnar organization of the cerebral cortex in the 1950s...
. He returned three years later to Argentina, to continue his participation at the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine, where, in 1952, he established the first experimental laboratory of neurophysiology
Neurophysiology
Neurophysiology is a part of physiology. Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system function...
of Argentina.
In 1955, Covian was already well known internationally for his research on the neurophysiology of the limbic system
Limbic system
The limbic system is a set of brain structures including the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex and fornix, which seemingly support a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, long term memory, and olfaction. The term "limbic" comes from the Latin...
. He accepted an invitation from Dr. Zeferino Vaz
Zeferino Vaz
Zeferino Vaz led the construction, establishment and development of the Unicamp university, in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s...
to join the faculty of the recently founded School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto
Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto is a medical school of the University of São Paulo located in the city of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo, Brazil, founded 1952...
of the University of São Paulo
University of São Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
, at Ribeirão Preto
Ribeirão Preto
Ribeirão Preto is a municipality and city in the Northeastern region of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is nicknamed Brazilian California, because of a combination of an economy based on agrobusiness plus high technology, wealth and sunny weather all year long. With 605,114 inhabitants,...
, São Paulo
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, as the chairman of the Department of Physiology, a post he held until 1974 and from 1978 to 1982. Under Covian's able and humane leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
, the Department would grow to become one of the main excellence centers of research and education in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, with an excellent scientific staff, with prominent researchers such as Eduardo Krieger
Eduardo Krieger
Eduardo Moacyr Krieger is an influential Brazilian physician, physiologist and scientific leader, current president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.-Life:...
, Renato Migliorini
Renato Migliorini
Renato Helios Migliorini was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist, biochemist and full professor of physiology at the Medical School of Ribeirão Preto of the University of São Paulo.He was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences....
, César Timo-Iaria, José Antunes Rodrigues, José Venâncio Pereira Leite and fellow Argentines Maria Carmelo Lico, Andrés Negro-Vilar and Ricardo F. Marseillan. Covian was involved in all aspects of scientific and educational progress in the physiological sciences. It was there too that Covian founded the first Brazilian laboratory of neurophysiology.
Covian was extremely active as a scientific leader. He was one of the founders and a president of the Brazilian Society of Physiology
Brazilian Society of Physiology
The Brazilian Society of Physiology is a learned society and association of students and professionals in physiology in Brazil. It is a member of the Brazilian Federation of Experimental Biology Societies and of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science...
. He also was a strong force behind the graduate programs of the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, and an innovator in the use of new approaches to the teaching of physiology. He was active in the editorial boards of several international scientific journals, such as "Physiology & Behavior" and the monograph series of "Progress in Brain Research", a member to several international committees, the International Brain Research Organization
International Brain Research Organization
The International Brain Research Organization was founded in 1961 in response to the growing demand from neuroscientists in many countries for the creation of a central organization that would cut across world boundaries and improve communication and collaboration among brain researchers...
and the Latin American Federation of Physiological Sciences.
Covian's main achievement in neurophysiology was the systematic study, with a large group of collaborators, of the neural basis of thirst
Thirst
Thirst is the craving for fluids, resulting in the basic instinct of animals to drink. It is an essential mechanism involved in fluid balance. It arises from a lack of fluids and/or an increase in the concentration of certain osmolites, such as salt...
, of neuroendocrine regulation of hydroelectrolytic homeostasis
Homeostasis
Homeostasis is the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH...
, and of appetitive behavior, i.e., the behavior which permit animals to seek and to ingest particular foodstuffs or diet
Diet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...
components, an activity which depends on many external and internal factors. The animal model
Animal model
An animal model is a living, non-human animal used during the research and investigation of human disease, for the purpose of better understanding the disease without the added risk of causing harm to an actual human being during the process...
used by Covian's group was the selective ingestion of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
versus salt water
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
in albino Norwegian rats, which they investigated with many approaches and tools, such as after lesions and stimulations of the central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
, measurement of metabolic
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
activity, manipulation of the activity of the endocrine system
Endocrine system
In physiology, the endocrine system is a system of glands, each of which secretes a type of hormone directly into the bloodstream to regulate the body. The endocrine system is in contrast to the exocrine system, which secretes its chemicals using ducts. It derives from the Greek words "endo"...
, the effect of several kinds of drugs
Medication
A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...
, etc. He also studied the role of the limbic system
Limbic system
The limbic system is a set of brain structures including the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex and fornix, which seemingly support a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, long term memory, and olfaction. The term "limbic" comes from the Latin...
(particularly the septal area) on many behaviors and functions, such as the control of blood pressure
Blood pressure
Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs. When used without further specification, "blood pressure" usually refers to the arterial pressure of the systemic circulation. During each heartbeat, BP varies...
, the neuroendocrine regulation of reproductive behavior, etc.
Prof. Miguel Covian was also a humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
, deeply interested in the history
History of science
The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....
and philosophy of science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
, history of medicine
History of medicine
All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods...
, epistemology, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, classical music and erudite art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
.
He retired at the mandatory age of 70, as a professor emeritus, but continued to appear regularly his office in the department. Honored by his many colleagues, pupils and friends, Miguel Covian died on February 5, 1992, following complications of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
.
External links
- Vicchi, F.L.: O Professor Miguel Rolando Covian. USP Ribeirão Preto, Newsletter No. 748, 2002 (In Portuguese).
- Interview with Miguel Covian. Center for Logics and Epistemology. State University of Campinas (In Portuguese)