Paul Oscar Blocq was a French pathologist who is remembered for his neuropathological

Neuropathology

Neuropathology is the study of disease of nervous system tissue, usually in the form of either small surgical biopsies or whole autopsy brains. Neuropathology is a subspecialty of anatomic pathology, neurology, and neurosurgery...

 work done with Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot was a French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He is known as "the founder of modern neurology" and is "associated with at least 15 medical eponyms", including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis...

 and Gheorghe Marinescu

Gheorghe Marinescu

Gheorghe Marinescu was a Romanian neurologist, founder of the Romanian School of Neurology.After the attendance of Medicine at the Bucharest University, Marinescu received most of his medical education as preparator at the laboratory of histology at the Brâncoveanu Hospital and as assistant at...

 at the Salpêtrière in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Blocq and Marinescu were the first physicians to describe extracellular neuritic plaque

Senile plaques

Senile plaques are extracellular deposits of amyloid in the gray matter of the brain. The deposits are associated with degenerative neural structures and an abundance of microglia and astrocytes...

 deposits in the grey matter of the brain. Also the two identified a case of Parkinsonian tremor

Tremor

A tremor is an involuntary, somewhat rhythmic, muscle contraction and relaxation involving to-and-fro movements of one or more body parts. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, eyes, face, head, vocal folds, trunk, and legs. Most tremors occur in the...

 caused by a tumor

Tumor

A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...

 in the substantia nigra

Substantia nigra

The substantia nigra is a brain structure located in the mesencephalon that plays an important role in reward, addiction, and movement. Substantia nigra is Latin for "black substance", as parts of the substantia nigra appear darker than neighboring areas due to high levels of melanin in...

 of the brain. With Marinescu and bacteriologist Victor Babeş

Victor Babes

Victor Babeș was a Romanian physician, biologist, and one of the earliest bacteriologists. He made early and significant contributions to the study of rabies, leprosy, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases....

, Blocq published an important work on the pathological histology

Histology

Histology is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals. It is performed by examining cells and tissues commonly by sectioning and staining; followed by examination under a light microscope or electron microscope...

 of the nervous system

Nervous system

The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...

 titled Atlas der pathologischen Histologie des Nervensystems.

A disorder known as Blocq's disease is named after him. It is also known as astasia-abasia, and is characterized by the inability to stand or walk, despite the capability to move ones' lower limbs when sitting or lying down.

Written works

• Sur une affection caractérisée par de l'astasie et de l'abasie. (Incoordination motrice pour la station et pour la marche (Charcot et Richer); ataxie motrice hystérique (V. Mitchell); ataxie par défaut de coordination automatique (Jaccoud).) Journal: Archives de Neurologie. Paris: Bureaux du Progrès Médical; vol. xv., 1888 (pp. 24–51 & 187-211).
• Atlas der pathologischen Histologie des Nervensystems (with V. Babeş & G. Marinescu)
• Anatomie pathologique de la moelle epiniere (1891); (with Albert Londe
  Albert Londe
  Albert Londe was an influential French photographer, medical researcher and chronophotographer. He is remembered for his work as a medical photographer at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, funded by the Parisian authorities, as well as being a pioneer in X-ray photography.During his two decades...
  
  1858-1917)
• Séméiologie et Diagnostic des Maladies Nerveuses. 1892 (with J. Onanoff)
• L'Etat Mental dans l'Hysterie.Paris: 1893

External links

• The Neurologist (brief essay on Blocq's disease)