Objective: The objective is to retrieve historical articles highlighting Purkinje’s research contributions.

Background: Purkinje made seminal contributions to our understanding of anatomy and physiology especially in localizations related to movement disorders.

Methods: To retrieve historical articles relating to Purkinje, Medline was searched for permutations of his name which exist due to transcriptional differences between Czech and English languages. Permutations include Johannes Evangelista Purkinje.

Results: In 1837, Purkinje made the original description of cerebellar cells would later be named after him. This presentation was at meeting at Charles University in Prague of the Versammlung deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte. In that presentation, he also described dark pigment granules in substantia nigra which we now call neuromelanin. He also described atropa belladonna effects on the human body which was published in 1829 in the Neue Breslauer Sammlungen aus dem Gebiete der Heilkunde.

Conclusions: Purkinje made important advances in describing cellular anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology that would help in advancing our understanding of movement disorders. The caron or "hácek" diacritical mark on the letter e in his name is not available in the English language leading to multiple transcriptions and incorrect English pronunciation of his name. Variations include Purkinje and Purkinye, with the original pronunciation of his name being closest to Purkinye.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/jan-evangelista-purkinje-contributions-to-study-of-anatomy-and-physiology-of-movement-disorders/