Negri bodies are eosinophilic, sharply outlined, pathognomonic inclusion bodies (2–10 μm in diameter) found in the cytoplasm of certain nerve cells containing the virus of rabies, especially in pyramidal cells[1] within Ammon's horn of the hippocampus. They are also often found in the Purkinje cells[1] of the cerebellar cortex from postmortem brain samples of rabies victims. They consist of ribonuclear proteins produced by the virus.[2]

Histopathology of Negri bodies in rabies encephalitis.
Micrograph with numerous rabies virions (small dark-grey rod-like particles) and Negri bodies, larger pathognomonic cellular inclusion bodies of rabies infection.

They are named for Adelchi Negri.[3]

History and significance

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Adelchi Negri, an assistant pathologist working in the laboratory of Camillo Golgi, observed these inclusions in rabbits and dogs with rabies. These findings were presented in 1903 at a meeting of the Società Medico-Chirurgica of Pavia. The American pathologist Anna Wessels Williams made the same discovery,[4] but because Negri published his results[5] first, the bodies bear his name.

Negri was convinced the inclusions were a parasitic protozoon and the etiologic agent of rabies. Later that same year, however, Paul Remlinger and Rifat-Bey Frasheri in Constantinople and, separately, Alfonso di Vestea in Naples showed that the etiologic agent of rabies is a filterable virus. Negri continued until 1909 to try to prove that the intraneuronal inclusions named after him corresponded to steps in the developmental cycle of a protozoan.

In spite of his incorrect etiologic hypothesis, Negri's discovery represented a breakthrough in the rapid diagnosis of rabies, and the detection of Negri bodies, using a method developed by Anna Wessels Williams, remained the primary way to detect rabies for the next thirty years.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Sketchy Group, LLC. "2.3 Rhabdovirus". www.sketchymedical.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  2. ^ Lahaye, Xavier; Vidy, Aurore; Pomier, Carole; Obiang, Linda; Harper, Francis; Gaudin, Yves; Blondel, Danielle (15 August 2009). "Functional Characterization of Negri Bodies (NBs) in Rabies Virus-Infected Cells: Evidence that NBs Are Sites of Viral Transcription and Replication". Journal of Virology. 83 (16): 7948–7958. doi:10.1128/JVI.00554-09. ISSN 0022-538X. PMC 2715764. PMID 19494013.
  3. ^ synd/2491 at Who Named It?
  4. ^ "Changing the Face of Medicine". NCBI.
  5. ^ Negri, Adelchi (1904). "Contributo allo studio dell'eziologia della rabbia". Bollettino della Società Medico-chirurgica di Pavia. 2: 88–115.
  6. ^ Henry, Ronnie; Murphy, Frederick R. (2017). "Etymologia: Negri Bodies". Emerg Infect Dis. 23 (9): 1461. doi:10.3201/eid2309.ET2309. PMC 5572856. citing public domain text from the CDC
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