Psychopharmacology may be defined as the study of the effects of drugs on behavior. As an established scientific discipline, this is a relatively new area of research. Despite its short history, however, psychopharmacology has achieved a considerable degree of sophistication in the variety of experi mental approaches that are currently employed. Consequently, the interpretation of data accumulated through the use of various experimental laboratory techniques has become increasingly difficult and complex. Numerous excelIent texts and review articles are available that serve to outline recent...

Leading experts critically summarize the state of knowledge concerning the molecular, anatomical, physiological, and behavioral aspects of NPY and its congeners. Each article provides a comprehensive and in-depth survey, an overview of the role of NPY in the discipline covered, a discussion of the likely future direction that the field will take, and an up-to-date bibliography.
Chapters include a treatment of the evolution of the PP family of genes, the structure of the NPY gene, and the distribution of NPY on the cardiovascular system, actions of NPY on the electrophysiological...

Since the pioneering discovery of cyclic AMP four decades ago, a multitude of signaling pathways have been uncovered in which an extracellular signal (first messenger) impacts the cell surface, thereby triggering a cascade that ultimately acts on the cell nucleus. In each cascade the first messenger gives rise to the appearance of a second messenger such as cyclic AMP, cyclic GMP, or diacylglycerol, which in turn triggers a third messenger, a fourth messenger, and so forth. Many advances in elucidating such pathways have been made, including efforts to link messenger molecules to brain...

Mitochondria have long been the Rodney Dangerfield of cellular organelles. Believed to be the remnants of bacterial infection of eukaryotic cells eons ago, the mitochondrion evolved a symbiotic relationship in which it dutifully served as the efficient source of A TP for cell function. The extraordinary dependence of cells on the energy provided by mito chondrial oxidative metabolism of glucose, especially through critical organs such as the heart and brain, is underlined by the fatal consequences of toxins that interfere with the mitochondrial electron transport system. Consistent with their...

A distinguished international panel of authors define our current understanding of neuronal damage after ischemia and critically review the significant recent developments and progress in cerebrovascular accident (CVA) drug trials, both in animal models and in the clinical setting. These leading basic and fundamental authorities survey such important new drugs as calcium-influx inhibitors, free-radical scavenging drugs, glutamate and glycinergic antagonists, and immune suppressors. They also evaluate all the latest findings concerning calcium homeostasis, glutamate toxicity, gene...

This book, covering many key aspects of autonomic nervous system maturation, was suggested by the success of a symposium on the developing autonomic nervous system held at the Spring 1982 meeting of the Federation of American Scientists for Experi- mental Biology (Federation Proceedings 1983, 42, 1609). It was obvi- ous from the F ASEB symposium that there is increasing interest in the developing autonomic nervous system, particularly with respect to its role in regulating visceral function. Some additional topics that were not covered in the F ASEB symposium are also included in this book....

F. Macfarlane Burnet I have been an interested onlooker for many years at research on the biology of trace elements, particularly in its bearing on the pas- toral and agricultural importance of copper, zinc, cobalt, and mo- lybdenum deficiencies in the soil of various parts of Australia. More recently I have developed a rather more specific interest in the role of zinc, particularly in relation to the dominance of zinc metalloenzymes in the processes of DNA replication and repair, and its possible significance for human pathology. One area of special significance is the striking effect of...

It has been established that neuroglia are involved in early neu- ronal growth, differentiation, and migration; these issues are well discussed in the companion volume entitled Neuron-Glia Interrela- tions During Phylogeny: I. Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Glial Cells. The present volume, Neuron-Glia Interrelations During Phylogeny: II. Plas- ticity and Regeneration, focuses on two aspects: (1) neuron-glia inter- relations as they relate to the physiological and metabolic homeostasis of neurons; and (2) the role of neuroglia and neuronal plasticity in regeneration and aging. Neuron-Glia...

The idea for this book has evolved from our desire to present a conceptual approach to the study of neurotransmitters in epilepsy. Such an approach requires an understanding of the function of neurotransmitter systems in various experimental models of epilep- sy. Toward this goal we have included in this book chapters on neurotransmitter systems in nine different epilepsy models. To com- plete the coverage of this topic, there is a chapter on the role of selected neurotransmitters in the various types of human epilep- sies. In the final chapter the editors integrated the neurotransmit- ter...

Research into the processes of tolerance and sensitization has escalated at a substantial rate in recent years, presumably because of the fundamental importance of understanding the long-term, as opposed simply to the initial, acute effects of drugs. The rapid of such research in recent years is documented c1early by growth the editors in the introductory chapter to this text. However, despite the fact that there is a very large amount of literature concemed with the effects of long-term drug treatment, there is, to the best of our knowledge, no published text that has ever attempted to...