Enrico Sertoli was an Italian physiologist and histologist who was a native of Sondrio

Sondrio

Sondrio is an Italian town and comune located in the heart of the Valtellina. Sondrio counts approximately 22,000 inhabitants and it is the administrative centre for the Lombard Province of Sondrio.- History :...

. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia

University of Pavia

The University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and is organized in 9 Faculties.-History:...

, where one of his instructors was physiologist Eusebio Oehl

Eusebio Oehl

Eusebio Oehl was an Italian histologist and physiologist who was a native of Lodi.He studied medicine at the University of Pavia, and following graduation in 1850, he continued his education in Vienna under Joseph Hyrtl and Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke...

 (1827-1903). He continued his studies of physiology

Physiology

Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 under Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke

Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke

Ernst Wilhelm Ritter von Brücke was a German physician and physiologist.He was born Ernst Wilhelm Brücke in Berlin. He graduated in medicine at University of Berlin in 1842, the following year he became esearch assistant to Johannes Peter Müller...

 (1819-1892), and in Tübingen

Tübingen

Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...

 with Felix Hoppe-Seyler (1825-1895). From 1870 until 1907, Sertoli was a professor of anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 and physiology at the Royal School of Veterinary Medicine in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, and after 1907 a professor of physiology. In Milan he founded the Laboratory of Experimental Physiology.

Sertoli is remembered for his 1865 discovery of the eponymous Sertoli cell

Sertoli cell

A Sertoli cell is a 'nurse' cell of the testes that is part of a seminiferous tubule.It is activated by follicle-stimulating hormone and has FSH-receptor on its membranes.-Functions:...

. These cells line the tubuli seminiferi contorti of the testis, and provide nourishment and support for developing sperm

Sperm

The term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive cells. In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell...

.

• This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.