Louis-Charles Malassez

Louis-Charles Malassez (21 September 1842 – 22 December 1909) was a French anatomist and histologist born in Nevers, department of Nièvre.

Louis-Charles Malassez

Bust of Louis-Charles Malassez, on his grave.

He studied medicine in Paris, where he worked as an interne from 1867. He served with the 5th Ambulance Corps during the Franco-Prussian War, afterwards returning to Paris, where he worked with distinguished physicians that included Claude Bernard, Jean-Martin Charcot and Pierre Potain. In 1875, he attained the chair of anatomy at Collège de France, and in 1894 he became a member of the Académie de Médecine.

He conducted histological research of the blood, and is credited for design of the hemocytometer, a device used to quantitatively measure blood cells.^{[citation needed]} In the field of dentistry, he described residual cells of the epithelial root sheath in the periodontal ligament. These remaining cells are referred to as epithelial cell rests of Malassez (ERM).

A genus of fungi called Malassezia bears his name. The species in the genus include: Malassezia furfur, Malassezia ovalis, Malassezia pachydermatis, Malassezia sympodialis and Malassezia orbiculare. Malassezia furfur is a lipophilic species that forms on human skin and can cause seborrheic dermatitis and tinea versicolor, Malassezia pachydermatis is a species that is associated with otitis externa in dogs.^[1]

Selected publications

• 'De la numération des globules rouges du sang. I. Des méthodes de numération. II. De la richesse du sang en globules rouges dans les différentes parties de l'arbre circulatoire. Paris 1873
• Sur les lésions histologiques de la syphilis testiculaire. Paris, 1881 - (with Paul Reclus 1847-1914).
• Sur l’existence d’amas épithéliaux autour de la racine des dents chez l’homme adulte et a l’état normal (débris épithéliaux paradentaires. Paris, 1885
• Sur les role des débris épithéliaux paradentaires. In: Archives de physiologie normale et pathologique. Paris, S. 309–340, 1885

References

• Dorlands's Medical Dictionary, Definition of Malassezia species & Cell rests
• Gies, W. J. (1934). "Proceedings of the Twelfth General Meeting, Stevens Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, March 17 and 18, 1934". Journal of Dental Research. 14 (3): 153–241. doi:10.1177/00220345340140030101. S2CID 71976077.
• Malassezia Infections of the Skin, D. R. Thomas, MD, FRCPC

1. Uchida Y, Mizutani M, Kubo T, Nakade T, Otomo K (August 1992). "Otitis externa induced with Malassezia pachydermatis in dogs and the efficacy of pimaricin". The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science. 54 (4): 611–4. doi:10.1292/jvms.54.611. PMID 1391168.

• "List of publications copied from the equivalent article at the German Wikipedia.