Tbis volume discusses and evaluates the use of neurotoxins to produce animal models of human neurodegenerative diseases. Tbe models presented use neuro toxins to induce some or most of the pathophysiological changes (including behavioral) that characterize the most studied motor neuron disorders and cogni tive disorders (dementia) in humans. Within the biomedical research community, there is little doubt about the utility of such models. But with increasing frequen cy, individuals concemed with animal rights question the validity of such models and argue that they actually produce no useful...

This book describes a unique combination of research programs based on a striking variety of hypotheses and procedures directed toward understanding the sources and consequences of neurobehavioral plasticity. This remarkable attribute of the nervous system -- to be pliable and capable of being shaped or formed by natural or artificial sources toward adaptation or maladaptation -- is considered in terms of the neurochemical forces and neuroanatomical structure that has been found to be pivotal for this function. The impetus for this volume was a symposium held to honor Robert L. Isaacson for...