Jan De Purkyne and his eponym “Purkinje fibers”
About Jan De Purkyne
Also written Johannes Evangelist Purkinje (17/12/1787 to 28/7/1869) was a Czech anatomist and physiologist. In 1837, he discovered Purkinje cells, large neurons with many branching dendrites found in the cerebellum. In 1839, he also discovered Purkinje fibers. Other discoveries include Purkinje images (reflections of objects from structures of the eye) and the Purkinje shift (the change in the brightness of red and blue colors as light intensity decreases gradually at dusk). Purkyne also introduced the scientific terms plasma and protoplasm.
About Purkinje Fibers
Purkinje fibers are one of the specialized cardiac muscle fibers, part of the impulse-conducting network of the heart, that rapidly transmit impulses from the atrioventricular node to the ventricles. It is named after Evangelist Purkinje. When an electrical impulse is sent along he Purkinje fibers, it is rapidly relayed to the ventricular cells on both sides of the heart. Atrial and ventricular discharge through the Purkinje trees is assigned on a standard electrocardiogram (ECG) as the P wave and QRS complex, respectively.
