Volume 15 of Handbook of Psychopharmacology represents the first of a new series of volumes whose aim is to bring earlier sections of the work up to date by describing the latest developments in the field. It is now seven years since the first Handbook volumes on Basic Neuropharmacology were published, and there have been many important advances. As in many other areas in science, progress in this field has depended to a considerable extent on the availability of new experimental methods, and Volume 15 reviews some major recent developments, including new autoradiographic techniques that...

Volume 18 of the Handbook of Psychopharmacology represents the first of a series of volumes intended to bring earlier sections of the work up to date. Volumes 7, 8, and 9, published in 1977 and 1978, dealt with principles of behavior, drugs and neurotransmitters, and neuroanatomy. In subsequent volumes dedicated to these issues, a mixture of topics will be covered in a given volume, covering both advances in basic knowledge in these three areas of the subject and reviews of theoretical and meth- odological issues deemed to be of particular relevance at present. L. L. . S. D. . S. H. S. vii...

"Psychopharmacology of the Aging Nervous System" was selected as the topic for Volume 20 of the Handbook of PsychopharmacoloffY. Senile dementia is now widely recognized as a medical and social problem likely to reach epidemic proportions by the turn of the century. By that time it is esti mated that almost 20% of the population in most developed countries will be over the age of 65 and at a conservative estimate 1 in 10 of them will suffer from a dementing illness. Many symposia have appeared over the last few years describing the neuropathological and neurochemical deficiencies in...