Carlo Martinotti (1859–1918) of Montiglio d’Asti and His Cortical Interneuron from Historical and Modern Perspectives

In September 1887, the 28-year-old neuropathologist Carlo Martinotti, an assistant to Camillo Golgi, presented his discovery of a new cell type in the mammalian cerebral cortex at the 12th congress of the Italian Medical Association, held in Pavia. The actual papers were published between 1888 and 1890. This neuron received the eponym "Martinotti cell" by Albert Kölliker and Santiago Ramón y Cajal, while its axon was designated the "Martinotti fiber" by Ramón y Cajal and other pioneer neuroanatomists, including Constantin von Economo and Georg N. Koskinas. Martinotti cells were later found to be inhibitory interneurons scattered throughout cortical layers II to VI, having an axon that ascends and extends rich collaterals into the molecular layer. Based on modern experiments, Martinotti cells have been implicated in a broad spectrum of functions, including regulation of cortical activity, speed of information processing, cortical plasticity, audition, motor learning, sensorimotor integration, and sleep.