Article ID: CBB941012757

Echoes of William Gowers’s concept of abiotrophy (2022)

unapi

Among William Gowers’s many contributions to neurology, the concept of abiotrophy (“an essential failure of vitality”) has been relatively overlooked. In this article, we review the echoes of Gowers’s concept in neurology, ophthalmology, and aging research. We also argue that abiotrophy is broader than both heredodegeneration and neurodegeneration. Unlike the common view that it simply means premature aging, abiotrophy currently can be understood as a progressive degenerative process of a mature specialized tissue, which is nonsynchronous with normal aging and may affect organs or systems early in life, resulting from the age-dependent effects of genetic mutations or variants, even if environmental factors may also causally contribute to the process. Although the term has largely fallen out of use, there are likely to be everlasting echoes of Gowers’s concept, through which he is to be considered a source of the modern thinking about the etiology and nosology of neurological diseases.

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Authors & Contributors
Nadeem Toodayan
Ropper, Allan H.
Christopher J. Boes
Hoki, Yu
Mershon, Ella Tobin
Sevelsted, Anders
Concepts
Degeneration
Neurology
Eugenics
Philosophy of medicine
Mental disorders and diseases
Psychiatry
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
Medieval
21st century
Places
Great Britain
France
Cairo (Egypt)
South America
North America
Germany
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