is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 physician, academic, medical researcher and neuropathologist. He is credited with having first observed Hirano bodies

Hirano body

Hirano bodies are intracellular aggregates of actin and actin-associated proteins first observed in the neurons by Asao Hirano in 1965....

 which are intracellular aggregates of actin

Actin

Actin is a globular, roughly 42-kDa moonlighting protein found in all eukaryotic cells where it may be present at concentrations of over 100 μM. It is also one of the most highly-conserved proteins, differing by no more than 20% in species as diverse as algae and humans...

 and actin-associated proteins in the neuron

Neuron

A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous...

s (nerve cells).

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Asao Hirano, OCLC

OCLC

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

/WorldCat

WorldCat

WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...

encompasses roughly 30 works in 50+ publications in 5 languages and 1,000+ library holdings.

• Electron Microsopic Atlas of Brain Tumors (1971), with Tung Pui Poon
• Atlas of Neuropathology (1974), with by Nathan Malamud
• An Atlas of the Human Brain for Computerized Tomography (1978), with Takayoshi Matsui
• Color Atlas of Pathology of the Nervous System (1980)
• A Guide to Neuropathology (1981)
• Atlas d'anatomie pathologique du système nerveux (1981)
• Neuropsychiatric Disorders in the Elderly (1983)
• Praktischer Leitfaden der Neuropathologie (1983)
• The Pathology of the Myelinated Axon (1984), with Masazumi Adachi
• 神経病理を学ぶ人のために (1986)
• 神経病理を学ぶ人のために (2003)
• カラーアトラス神経病理 (2006)