Timeline Introduction

Timeline: Introduction

Institute of Physiology named after I.P. Pavlov of Russian Academy of Sciences organized in 1925, originates from the Physiological Laboratory, created at the end of the 19th century in St. Petersburg in connection with the worldwide interest in the structure and operation of a living organism and its individual parts: cells, tissues, organs, systems … The founder of the Institute was the first Russian Nobel laureate, academician I.P. Pavlov.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov believed that the brain is the main organ and therefore created the Institute to study the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres using the method of conditioned reflexes developed by him. Experiments on dogs and great apes and physiological analysis of nervous diseases in clinics allowed I.P. Pavlov to formulate new patterns of the cerebral cortex which gave a powerful impetus to in-depth studies of the structural and physicochemical foundations of the physiology and psychology of the brain.
After I.P. Pavlov Institute was headed by his student, academician L.A. Orbeli, thanks to whom a fundamentally new doctrine of the sympathetic nervous system known to us as the "fight and flight" system, was formed, since the sympathetic nervous system is activated during stress reactions, accelerating metabolic processes in the body.
In the 50s, under the leadership of the next director, academician K.M. Bykov, the Institute established the main mechanisms of psycho-somatic disorders that arise in conditions of neurosis. The theory of the formation of psychosomatic diseases was developed. It has been proven that with the emergence of a pathological state of the cerebral cortex, significant changes develop throughout the body.
In the 60−70s, under Academician V.N. Chernigovsky, data were obtained concerning the representation of all internal organs in the cerebral cortex, as well as the mechanisms of perception and processing of sensory (coming from the sense organs) information, the formation of motivational and emotional reactions. The Institute took part in the USSR space program.
At the same time, Academician A.M. Ugolev discovered a new type of digestion — parietal (membrane) digestion. This discovery formed the basis of a new theory of nutrition, recognized throughout the world. Academician A.D. Nozdrachev developed the concept of the metasympathetic nervous system — an independent division of the autonomic nervous system that controls almost all hollow internal organs — the stomach, intestines, heart, etc.
In the 80−90s under the leadership of Academician V.A. Govyrin, important regularities of the relationship between local (in the organs themselves) and central (in the brain) mechanisms of regulation of blood circulation, vascular tone, respiration, hormonal system were established, mechanisms were established that determine the noise immunity of the auditory and visual systems of humans and animals, disclosed new neurophysiological mechanisms of movement. The role of genes responsible for adaptation and learning processes has been revealed.
From 1994 to 2015 the Director of the Institute was Corresponding Member of RAS D.P. Dvoretsky. To a large extent thanks to him, in the difficult for science of our country in the 90s of the last century, it was possible to preserve the Institute, its infrastructure, research team and the position of one of the leading physiological institutions of the country.
Since 2015 the Director of the Institute is Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences L.P. Filaretova.
Today 34 laboratories and groups of the Institute employ about 200 researchers, including 150 doctors and candidates of sciences. The institute is located in St. Petersburg and in Koltushi which includes laboratory buildings, the Pavlovsky memorial complex, a vivarium, an anthropoid, the largest scientific library of a physiological profile, founded at the end of the 19th century, a supply infrastructure, a residential area, a park.
The main scientific directions of the Institute in the field of physiology and fundamental problems of medicine are currently: