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J Neurol (2008) 255:19881989DOI 10.1007/s00415-008-0927-2 PIONEERS IN NEUROLOGY
Levent SarikciogluUmut Ozsoy Bror Rexed (19142002)
Bror Rexed was a visionary Swedish neuroscientist, who for many years studied the anatomy of the spinal cord. Internationally, he is best known today for his description of the cell systems in the spinal cord, now known as Rexeds lamination. He also dedicated himself to many activities for the World Health Organization (WHO).
He was born in 1914 in Gunnar-skog-Vrmland (middle Sweden). In 1945, at the age of 31, he completed his dissertation at the University of Uppsala on the post-natal development of the peripheral nervous system [4]. He continued to work in the Histology Department of that same university and in 1953 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy there. During these years, he was part of an innovative interdisciplinary team dedicated to the use of proton beams in neurosurgery [3].
Bror Rexed is perhaps best known for his studies on the lami-nation of the grey matter of the spinal cord [5, 6]. For many years innumerable and often conflicting terms were used to describe cell groups in the spinal cord. Some were based on cell size and appearance (e.g., substantia gelatinosa), others according to their location in the grey matter (e. g., motor nuclei of the anterior horn)...