Fogazzi Giovanni B, Testanera G
Research Laboratory on Urine, Division of Nephrology, Ospedale Maggiore, IRCCS, Via Commenda 15, I-20122 Milan, Italy.
Am J Nephrol. 2002 Jul;22(2-3):300-8. doi: 10.1159/000063778.
Carlo L. Rovida (1844-1877) was an Italian physician who graduated in Pavia (1866) and worked in Milan (1868) and Turin (1874), where he ran the Institute of Clinical Medicine at the university. Between 1870 and 1876 Rovida published several studies on the nature of urinary casts, which can still be considered valid today. He distinguished two main types of casts, i.e., "colorless" (hyaline) and "yellowish" (waxy). By painstaking microscopic observation of the urine, performed mainly by microchemical techniques, and histological examination of the kidneys, he came to the conclusion that both types of casts were produced by tubular cells. In addition, he found that the colorless casts were composed of a unique protein, which was different from any other protein known at the time, and which he called "cilindrina" (cylindrine). Instead, Rovida found that the yellowish casts contain a different, ill-defined protein, which was also present in the lateral and basal membrane of the tubular cells. Rovida should be remembered today because his views were much ahead of the prevailing theories of the time, which considered the casts as coagulated fibrin (a view sustained mainly in Germany) or as elements derived from either tubular degeneration or tubular production (a view sustained mainly in the United Kingdom and Sweden); his results concerning the site of production of hyaline casts and their unique nature were confirmed 90 years later, in the early 1960s, when it was demonstrated that these casts are made of Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein, a protein which is produced by the cells of Henle's loop; and his conclusions about the special nature of waxy casts were also correct. In fact, even though the true composition of these casts is still not yet totally clear, there is now evidence that they contain a substance different from Tamm-Horsfall protein. Rovida is also a paradigm of how the progress of science is strictly dependent on the development of technology. In fact, it was only when appropriate techniques (e.g., electrophoresis, immunoelectrophoresis, and immunofluorescent microscopy) became available that the nature of casts could be defined with certainty.
卡洛·L·罗维达（1844 - 1877）是一位意大利医生，他于1866年在帕维亚毕业，并先后在米兰（1868年）和都灵（1874年）工作，在都灵时他负责管理大学的临床医学研究所。1870年至1876年间，罗维达发表了多篇关于尿沉渣性质的研究，这些研究即便在今天仍被视为有效。他区分出两种主要类型的沉渣，即“无色的”（透明的）和“淡黄色的”（蜡样的）。通过主要运用微量化学技术对尿液进行细致的显微镜观察以及对肾脏进行组织学检查，他得出结论：这两种类型的沉渣均由肾小管细胞产生。此外，他发现无色沉渣由一种独特的蛋白质构成，这种蛋白质与当时已知的任何其他蛋白质都不同，他将其称为“cilindrina”（圆柱蛋白）。相反，罗维达发现淡黄色沉渣含有一种不同的、成分不明的蛋白质，这种蛋白质也存在于肾小管细胞的侧膜和基底膜中。罗维达之所以至今仍应被铭记，是因为他的观点远远超前于当时盛行的理论，当时的理论认为沉渣是凝固的纤维蛋白（主要在德国流行的观点），或者是源自肾小管变性或肾小管产生的成分（主要在英国和瑞典流行的观点）；他关于透明沉渣产生部位及其独特性质的研究结果在90年后，即20世纪60年代初得到了证实，当时证实这些沉渣是由亨利氏袢的细胞产生的Tamm - Horsfall糖蛋白构成；而且他关于蜡样沉渣特殊性质的结论也是正确的。事实上，尽管这些沉渣的真实成分仍未完全明确，但现在有证据表明它们含有一种不同于Tamm - Horsfall蛋白的物质。罗维达也是科学进步如何严格依赖技术发展的一个典范。实际上，只有当合适的技术（如电泳、免疫电泳和免疫荧光显微镜检查）出现后，沉渣的性质才能被确切定义。
