Basic Neurochemistry [antikvár]

Preface The addition of the phrase, "Molecular, Cellular, and Medical Aspects" to the title of this Fourth Edition of Basic Neurochemistry emphasizes our belief that the flourishing of neurochemistry derives from correlations among phenomena that are observed at multiple levels. As discussed in the Preface to the First Edition in 1972, integrating hypotheses are being developed to account for the functioning of the nervous system in terms of molecular events. The current growth of correlative power stems not only from increases in sensitivity and resolution of analytical biochemistry—more data from smaller samples—but equally from technology that permits observing and quantitating molecular events in functioning, complex, and relatively intact biological structures. Examples range from recording the conductance of single ion channels in patches of membrane, to measuring processes in transfected cells or transgenic animals, to imaging receptor-ligand binding, metabolism, and blood flow in brains of awake functioning humans. Advances in molecular genetics have generated an enthusiastic sense of anticipation among neurobiologists over the past decade. The derivative applications are, on the one hand, revealing more about molecular structures and, on the other, elucidating nervous system development and the bases of genetic diseases affecting human behavior. We are encouraged to believe that increased knowledge of the molecular basis of neurobiology will ultimately lead to an understanding ofthe coding of experiences that comprise memory and are the substrate of behavior and mind. This Fourth Edition is nearly a new book. More than half the chapters appear for the first time, while the remainder have been completely revised to include discussions of many significant new developments in neurobiology. A new major section on molecular neurobiology discusses molecular mechanisms, applications of nucleic acid probes for gene expression, and molecular approaches to the elucidation of inherited diseases of the nervous system. Other sections contain new chapters on the molecular structures and mechanisms of membrane channels, neurotransmitter receptors, receptor-activated phos-phoinositide turnover, G-proteins, cyclic nucleotides, and phosphorylation in regulation of neuronal signaling functions. There are new chapters on the molecular structure and dynamics of the cytoskeleton of the cell and biochemical changes in brain development, regeneration, plasticity, and aging. Such topics are relevant to our understanding of normal neuronal growth as well as to the elucidation of the pathophysiological basis of neuropsychiatrie disease, of biologic repair mechanisms, and of treatment strategies such as tissue transplantation. Basic Neurochemistry had its origin in the Conference on Neurochemistry Curriculum initiated and organized by R. Wayne Albers, Robert Katzman, and George Siegel under