Igor Svanidze

Igor Svanidze
იგორ კონსტანტინეს ძე სვანიძე
Born(1926-08-31)31 August 1926
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died30 January 2018(2018-01-30) (aged 91)
Tbilisi, Georgia
Other nameI. K. Svanidze
EducationTbilisi State University (1951)
Known forIntroducing nervous-tissue culture to Georgia
AwardsOrder of Honor
Honored Scientist of Georgia
Scientific career
FieldsNeurohistology, histochemistry, neurobiology
WorkplacesBeritashvili Institute of Physiology
Tbilisi State University

Igor Konstantinovich Svanidze (Georgian: იგორ კონსტანტინეს ძე სვანიძე; 31 August 1926 – 30 January 2018), who published as I. K. Svanidze, was a Georgian neurohistologist and neurobiologist. He founded and headed the Laboratory of Neuromorphology at the Beritashvili Institute of Physiology in Tbilisi and taught cytology and histology at Tbilisi State University for more than four decades. He is credited with introducing the culture of nervous tissue to Georgia and was among the country's first researchers in neurohistochemistry, working together with Alexander Roitbak.

Early life and education

Svanidze was born on 31 August 1926. He grew up in Tbilisi and studied at Tbilisi State University, graduating from the Department of Biology in 1951. He later received the degrees of Candidate of Sciences and Doctor of Biological Sciences.

Career

Svanidze taught in the Department of Cytology, Histology and Embryology of the Faculty of Biology at Tbilisi State University from 1959 to 2006, where he lectured on cytology and pathological histology and gave a special course in pathological histology for master's students.

At the Institute of Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR, later named after Ivane Beritashvili, he founded a Laboratory of Histochemistry in 1967. He later founded and headed the institute's Laboratory of Neuromorphology. He continued research at the institute, by then the Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine, until his death.

Over his career he supervised several doctoral and candidate dissertations.

Research

Svanidze's early work concerned quantitative changes in protein functional groups and nucleic acids in neurons and glial cells during development and under increased functional activity, the subject of his 1974 monograph on nucleic acids in the pyramidal cells of the cerebral cortex. He also identified monosynaptic pathways linking the retina to the visual cortex and other brain regions.

He introduced organotypic and dissociated cultures of nervous tissue to Georgia. Using these methods he studied neuromuscular connections and types of axon growth, the role of contacts between cells in protein synthesis, and the reconstruction in dissociated culture of a structure analogous to the claustrum. His 1981 monograph summarized this work.

Other research topics included the differentiation and repair of central nervous system (CNS) cells during ontogenesis and in disease, and the stimulation of recovery after CNS injury by pharmacological and physical factors. With the Centre of Experimental and Clinical Medicine of the Polish Academy of Sciences he studied changes in central nerve cells under acute hypoxia. He also studied the function of the cilia of ependymal cells lining the cerebral aqueduct, including the effects of weakened and strengthened magnetic fields on them.

In his later years Svanidze's laboratory studied the effects of prenatal exposure to ethanol and toluene on neurogenesis, metabolism and behavior in the limbic and motor systems of rats, and the protective effect of antioxidants. The work found that such exposure reduced the proliferation of ependymal stem cells and of progenitor cells in the dentate gyrus of offspring, disrupted neuronal and glial migration, and reduced exploratory activity, findings the group linked to fetal alcohol and toluene syndromes. His last project, funded by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation from 2015 to 2018, examined the stimulating effect of low (hormetic) doses of ethanol on limbic neurogenesis.

Honours and memberships

Selected works

Svanidze was the author of more than 100 scientific papers, as well as monographs and textbooks.

Monographs

Textbooks

Selected papers

The following papers are indexed in PubMed.

  • Svanidze, I. K. (1957). "K sravnitel'noi gistologii slizistoi obolochki zhel'chnogo puzyria pozvonochnykh" [Comparative histology of the mucous membrane of the gallbladder in vertebrates]. Arkhiv Anatomii, Gistologii i Embriologii (in Russian). 34 (5): 74–79.
  • Svanidze, I. K. (1964). "Strukturnye izmeneniia v zritel'nom analizatore belykh krys posle enukleatsii" [Structural changes in the visual analyzer in white rats following enucleation]. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR (in Russian). 158: 743–744.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Bregvadze, I. A. (1965). "Dinamika sul'fgidril'nykh grup v glial'nykh kletkakh zritel'noĭ kory v usloviiakh tkanevykh kul'tur" [The distribution of SH-groups in glial cells of the optic cortex under tissue culture conditions]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 7 (5): 628–633.
  • Svanidze, I. K. (1966). "O Fel'gen-polozhitel'nykh granulakh v tsitoplazme glial'nykh kletok, kul'tiviruemykh vne organizma" [On Feulgen-positive granules in the cytoplasm of glial cells cultured outside the organism]. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR (in Russian). 169 (4): 945–946.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Bregvadze, I. A. (1968). Neuroscience Translations. doi:10.1007/BF01124750. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • Roitbak, A. I.; Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V. (1973). "Effect of potassium ions on the motility of cortical glia". Doklady Akademii nauk SSSR. 211 (6): 1450–1452. PMID 4584492 – via PUBMED.
  • Didimova, E. V.; Svanidze, I. K. (1972). "Rost i differentsirovka kletok neĭroglii kory golovnogo mozga na rannykh étapakh kul'tivirovaniia" [Growth and differentiation of neuroglial cells of the cerebral cortex at early stages of cultivation]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 14 (10): 1279–1284.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V. (1974). "Izuchenie dinamiki sukhogo vesa zhivykh glial'nykh kletok" [A change in the dynamics of the dry weight of live glial cells]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 16 (2): 187–192.
  • Didimova, E. V.; Svanidze, I. K.; Macharashvili, D. N. (1974). "Osobennosti mitoticheskogo deleniia makroglial'nykh kletok posle travmy kory golovnogo mozga" [Peculiarities of mitotic division of macroglial cells after injury of the cerebral cortex]. Arkhiv Anatomii, Gistologii i Embriologii (in Russian). 67 (11): 63–66.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V. (1975). "Mezhkletochnye kontakty i sinkhronizatsiia kolebaniĭ sukhogo vesa glial'nykh kletok" [Intercellular contacts and the synchronization of fluctuations in the dry weight of glial cells]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 17 (10): 1226–1228.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V. (1977). "Vliianie strikhnina, morfina i serotonina na dinamiku sukhogo vesa kul'tiviruemykh glial'nykh kletok" [Effect of strychnine, morphine and serotonin on dry weight dynamics in cultivated glial cells]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 19 (8): 882–887.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V.; Kakabadze, I. M. (1980). "Poluchenie kolonok tkani tsentral'noĭ nervnoĭ sistemy dlia tseleĭ kul'tivirovaniia" [Obtaining columns of central nervous system tissue for culture purposes]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 22 (12): 1458–1459.
  • Lazriev, I. L.; Svanidze, I. K.; Tsitsishvili, A. Sh.; Dzamoeva, E. I. (1980). "Ul'trastrukturnye osobennosti neĭronov i sinapsov golovnogo mozga pri tsirkuliatornoĭ gipoksii" [Ultrastructural characteristics of neurons and synapses in the cerebral cortex during circulatory hypoxia]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 22 (2): 139–143.
  • Didimova, E. V.; Svanidze, I. K. (1980). "Agregatsiia nervnykh i glial'nykh kletok mozzhechka kurinogo émbriona v dissotsiirovannykh kul'turakh" [Neural and glial cell aggregation of the chick embryo cerebellum in dissociated cultures]. Ontogenez (in Russian). 11 (5): 536–538. PMID 7003465.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V. (9 September 1982). "Plane reconstruction of the structure of mesencephalic tectum from hen embryos in dissociated culture". Brain Research. 247 (1): 121–128. doi:10.1016/0006-8993(82)91034-4. PMID 7127108.
  • Museridze, D. P.; Svanidze, I. K. (1982). "Osobennosti povedeniia nervnykh i myshechnykh kletok v smeshannykh kul'turakh skeletnoi myshtsy i spinnogo mozga kurinykh émbrionov" [Behavior characteristics of nerve and muscle cells in mixed cultures of chick embryo skeletal muscle and spinal cord]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 24 (5): 610–612.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V. (1983). "Razmnozhenie kletok v kul'ture éksplantov gippokampa" [Cell multiplication in a culture of hippocampal explants]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 25 (3): 342–344.
  • Museridze, D. P.; Tsaishvili, Ts. S.; Gigineishvili, Ts. V.; Svanidze, I. K. (1985). "Morfofunktsional'nye osobennosti neĭronov spinnogo mozga na rannikh étapakh kul'tivirovaniia" [Morphofunctional characteristics of spinal cord neurons in the early stages of cultivation]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 27 (12): 1407–1410.
  • Bregvadze, I. A.; Gigineishvili, Ts. V.; Tsaishvili, Ts. S.; Svanidze, I. K. (1986). "Morfofunktsional'nye osobennosti kletok prozrachnoĭ peregorodki v tkanevoĭ kul'ture u novorozhdennykh krys" [Morpho-functional characteristics of septum pellucidum cells in a tissue culture in newborn rats]. Ontogenez (in Russian). 17 (2): 207–212.
  • Didimova, E. V.; Svanidze, I. K. (1988). "Sokratitel'naia aktivnost' i prizhiznennye kolebaniia sukhogo vesa glial'nykh kletok v odnosloĭnykh kul'turakh" [Contractile activity and intravital fluctuations in the dry weight of glial cells in monolayer cultures]. Ontogenez (in Russian). 19 (5): 487–490.
  • Museridze, D. P.; Svanidze, I. K.; Sikharulidze, N. V. (1989). "Studies of dry weight of cortical neurons under conditions of osmotic brain edema development in rabbits". Neuropatologia Polska. 27 (1): 77–84.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Museridze, D. P. (1990). "Rost aksonov v organotipicheskoĭ kul'ture spinnogo mozga" [Growth of the axons in organotypic culture of the spinal cord]. Biulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny (in Russian). 109 (2): 186–188.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Museridze, D. P.; Gegenava, L. G. (1991). "Osobennosti agregatsii kletok kryshi srednego mozga émbrionov kur i kory golovnogo mozga novorozhdennykh krys v smeshannykh kul'turakh" [The characteristics of the cell aggregation of the tectum mesencephali in chick embryos and of the cerebral cortex in newborn rats in mixed cultures]. Tsitologiia (in Russian). 33 (10): 94–98.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Museridze, D. P. (1993). "Stimulation of the growth and differentiation of axons and dendrites of the spinal neurons in tissue culture". Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine: 1561–1564. doi:10.1007/BF00785501.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Sandodze, V. Ya.; Didimova, E. V.; Chkhikvadze, T. I.; Portnoi, V. N.; Razdol'skii, A. S. (1994). "Izuchenie vliianiia gipo- i gipermagnitnogo poleĭ na dvigatel'nuiu aktivnost' resnitchatogo apparata épendimnykh kletok" [The effect of hypo- and hypermagnetic fields on the motor activity of the ciliary apparatus of the ependymal cells]. Radiatsionnaia Biologiia, Radioecologiia (in Russian). 34 (1): 100–104.
  • Sandodze, V. Ya.; Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V. (1995). "Effekty vliianiia gipomagnitnogo polia na dvigatel'nuiu aktivnost' resnitchatogo apparata épendimnykh kletok v usloviiakh tselogo organizma" [Effects of hypomagnetic fields on motility of the cilia of ependymal cells in vivo]. Radiatsionnaia Biologiia, Radioecologiia (in Russian). 35 (1): 19–22.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Tsaishvili, Ts. S.; Kokaia, Z. G.; Godziashvili, S. B.; Kokaia, M. G. (1997). "Differentsirovka neĭronov golubovatogo mesta posle ikh allotransplantatsii v predvaritel'no denervirovannyĭ gippokamp belykh krys" [The differentiation of locus coeruleus neurons after their allotransplantation into the preliminarily denervated hippocampus of white rats]. Morfologiia (in Russian). 111 (2): 35–39.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Didimova, E. V.; Tsaishvili, Ts. S. (2001). "Proliferativnaia aktivnost' matrichnykh kletok bokovykh zheludochkov i granuliarnykh kletok zubchatoĭ izviliny gippokampa krys v usloviiakh pre- i postnatal'noĭ alkogol'noĭ intoksikatsii" [Proliferative activity of the matrix cells in lateral ventricles and granule cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in rats after pre- and postnatal alcoholic intoxication]. Izvestiia Akademii Nauk. Seriia Biologicheskaia (in Russian) (1): 117–120.
  • Museridze, D. P.; Sanikidze, T. V.; Svanidze, I. K. (2006). "Metabolic activity of cells in brain cortex after alcohol intoxication and correction of changes with Dolivin". Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 142 (3): 283–285. doi:10.1007/s10517-006-0347-1.
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Museridze, D. P.; Didimova, E. V.; Gvinadze, N. N.; Gegenava, L. G.; Bregvadze, I. A. (2007). Izvestiia Akademii Nauk. Seriia Biologicheskaia (in Russian) (3): 325–328. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • Davitashvili, D. T.; Museridze, D. P.; Svanidze, I. K.; Gegenava, L. G.; Sanikidze, T. V. (2009). Georgian Medical News (177): 73–77. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • Davitashvili, D. T.; Museridze, D. P.; Svanidze, I. K.; Pavliashvili, N. S.; Sanikidze, T. V. (2010). Georgian Medical News (180): 56–60. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • Svanidze, I. K.; Museridze, D. P.; Didimova, E. V.; Sanikidze, T. V.; Gegenava, L. G.; Gvinadze, N. N. (2012). Morfologiia (in Russian). 141 (2): 18–22. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "სვანიძე იგორ" [Svanidze, Igor]. Biographical Dictionary of Georgia (in Georgian). National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. Retrieved 15 October 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "იგორ სვანიძე" [Igor Svanidze]. Eminent scientists (in Georgian). Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine. Retrieved 15 October 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "Bio of Igor Svanidze" (PDF). Ilia State University. Retrieved 15 October 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "იგორ სვანიძე" [Igor Svanidze] (in Georgian). Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine. 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Svanidze IK – search results". PubMed. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved 15 October 2026.

Further reading