During the past decade, great strides have been made in our un derstanding of the biochemistry and pharmacology of the alpha-l adrenergic receptor. The alpha-l adrenergic receptor plays a key role in biological function. This is evidenced by the fact that the alpha-l adrenergic receptor plays a prominent functional role in most organs of the body and in the key systems responsible for survival of the organism and maintenance of optimum biological activity. This is most apparent in the cardiovascular system, in which alpha-l adrenergic receptors are the single most important receptor involved...

Historically, the major emphasis on the study of purinergic systems has been predominantly in the areas of physiology and gross pharmacology. The last decade has seen an exponential in crease in the number of publications related to the role of both adenosine and A TP in mammalian tissue function, a level of interest that has evolved from a more molecular focus on the identity of adenosine and A TP receptor subtypes and the search for selective ligands and development of radioligand binding assays by Fred Bruns and colleagues (especially that for A receptors) that played z a highly...

Focusing on the rapidly increasing interaction between biotechnology and advanced fiberoptics/electronics, Biosensors with Fiberoptics emphasizes the three major phases of the developmental process from concept to marketplace: research, development, and applications.
With contributions by leading experts directly involved in key areas of this exciting, fast-paced field, the book describes novel biosensor technologies and such current and potential applications as: chemical sensing fluorescent labels evanescent-wave biosensors and immunosensors clinical applications immunoassay kinetics...

Prior to 1974, the adrenergic receptors were known only in directly as entities that responded to drugs in a selective manner to mediate a variety of physiologically important responses. During the intervening years, our view of adrenergic receptors has changed dramatically. The availability of high affinity 125I-labeled radioligands selective for these receptors presaged an explosion of experimenta tion utilizing direct binding assays to establish the biochemical properties of the receptor protein. In the opening chapter, Stadel and Lefkowitz describe this development and its impact on our...

Serotonin (5-HT) was isolated and chemically characterized nearly four decades ago, and is now generally accepted to function as a neurotransmitter and neuromodulatory agent. Early research focused on the measurement of concentrations, synthesis, and metabolism of 5-HT, and only recently has the focus shifted to characterization of 5-HT receptors. Gaddum and Picarelli first sug gested in 1957 that the effect of 5-HT in the guinea pig ileum is mediated by two pharmacologically distinguishable receptors; however, the possibility of dual5-HT receptors was not explored systematically or...