Heiko Braak

Heiko Braak (born 16 June 1937) is a German anatomist. Braak was born in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, and studied medicine at the universities of Hamburg, Berlin, and Kiel. He was Professor at the Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main. Currently he is based at the 'Clinical Neuroanatomy Section, Department of Neurology, Center for Biomedical Research, University of Ulm, Germany.[1]

Heiko Braak
Heiko Braak (left) in 2018
Born (1937-06-16) 16 June 1937
Kiel
NationalityGerman
EducationUniversity of Hamburg, University of Berlin, University of Kiel
Occupation(s)Anatomist, Professor

Braak's early research focused on the morphology of the central nervous system of chondrichthyan fishes. In the holocephalan species Chimaera monstrosa (ratfish), he described, in the basal midline of the diencephalon, a previously unknown ependymall structure adjacent to the rostral part of the optic chiasma referred to as the ‘organon vasculare praeopticum’.[2] It may be considered homologous to the supraoptic crest of mammals.[3] Braak also described the morphology of the neurohypophysial complex of the squaliform elasmobranch Etmopterus spinax (Spinax niger).[4]

Braak’s further research has focused on the morphology and pathoanatomy of the human central nervous system, in particular of the cerebral cortex (1980).

Braak has also contributed extensively to the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. In particular, he and his wife Eva Braak introduced a classification of Alzheimer's disease into six distinct pathoanatomical stages, now commonly referred to as Braak and Braak stages, based on the topographical distribution pattern of neurofibrillary changes from circumscribed parts of the limbic system to the higher neocortical association fields.[5] A similar classification was proposed in 2003 for the pathoanatomical changes associated with idiopathic Parkinson's disease.[6]

Braak and his wife, Eva Braak, were the first to describe the pathological changes of argyrophilic grain disease, a previously unknown form of senile dementia.[7]

in 2007, Braak and co-authors advanced a ‘dual-hit hypothesis’ about the pathogenesis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease, according to which an unknown pathogen akin to a slow-virus may enter the nervous system through both the nasal and intestinal mucosae, eventually resulting in a cascade of neurodegenerative events in the brain.[8]

Braak is the son of the philologist Professor Ivo Braak (1906–1991) and brother of theatre director Dr. Kai Braak.

References
  1. {{Braak H, Ludolph AC, Neumann M, Ravits J, Del Tredici K. Pathological TDP-43 changes in Betz cells differ from those in bulbar and spinal α-motoneurons in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Acta Neuropathologica. 2017;133 (1):79-90. doi:10.1007/s00401-016-1633-2.
  2. Braak, H. (1963). "Das Ependym der Hirnventrikel von Chimaera monstrosa (mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Organon vasculare praeopticum)". Zeitschrift für Zellforschung und Mikroskopische Anatomie. 60 (4): 582–608. doi:10.1007/BF00331185.
  3. Kuhlenbeck H. (1977). The central nervous system of vertebrates. Vol. 5, Part I, p. 89. Karger, Basel.
  4. Braak, H. (1962). "Über die Gestalt des neurosekretorischen Zwischenhirn-Hypophysen-Systems von Spinax niger". Zeitschrift für Zellforschung und Mikroskopische Anatomie. 58 (2): 265–276. doi:10.1007/BF00320188.
  5. Braak H, Braak E (1991). "Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes". Acta Neuropathologica. 82 (4): 239–259. doi:10.1007/BF00308809. PMID 1759558. S2CID 668690.
  6. Braak, H.; Del Tredici, K.; Rüb, U.; de Vos, R.A.I; et al. (2004). "Staging of brain pathology related to sporadic Parkinson's disease". Neurobiology of Aging. 24 (2): 197–211. doi:10.1016/S0197-4580(02)00065-9. ISSN 0197-4580. PMID 12498954. S2CID 22798538.
  7. Braak, H.; Braak, E. (1987). "Argyrophilic grains: characteristic pathology of cerebral cortex in cases of adult onset dementia without Alzheimer changes". Neuroscience Letters. 76 (1): 124–127. doi:10.1016/0304-3940(87)90204-7. ISSN 0304-3940. PMID 243859. S2CID 34334795.
  8. Hawkes, C.H.; Del Tredici, K.; Braak, H. (2007). "Review: Parkinson's disease: a dual-hit hypothesis". Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology. 33 (6): 599–614. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2990.2007.00874.x. PMC 7194308. PMID 17961138.
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