Paul Oscar Blocq

This article is about the 19th-century French pathologist. For the Icelandic pop singer, songwriter and disc jockey, see Paul Oscar.

Paul Oscar Blocq (1860–1896[1]) was a French pathologist who is remembered for his neuropathological work done with Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) and Gheorghe Marinescu (1863-1938) at the Salpêtrière in Paris.

Blocq and Marinescu were the first physicians to describe extracellular neuritic plaque deposits in the grey matter of the brain. Also the two identified a case of Parkinsonian tremor caused by a tumor in the substantia nigra of the brain. With Marinescu and bacteriologist Victor Babeş (1854-1926), Blocq published an important work on the pathological histology of the nervous system titled Atlas der pathologischen Histologie des Nervensystems.

A disorder known as "Blocq's disease" is named after him. It is also known as astasia-abasia, and is characterized by the inability to stand or walk, despite the capability to move ones' lower limbs when sitting or lying down.

  1. ^ Robinson, Victor, ed. (1939). "Paul-Oscar Blocq and Abasia". The Modern Home Physician, A New Encyclopedia of Medical Knowledge. WM. H. Wise & Company (New York)., page 1.