I have developed "tennis elbow" from lugging this book around the past four weeks, but it is worth the pain, the effort, and the aspirin. It is also worth the (relatively speaking) bargain price. Including appendixes, this book contains 894 pages of text. The entire panorama of the neural sciences is surveyed and examined, and it is comprehensive in its scope, from genomes to social behaviors. The editors explicitly state that the book is designed as "an introductory text for students of biology, behavior, and medicine," but it is hard to imagine any audience, interested in any fragment of neuroscience at any level of sophistication, that would not enjoy this book. The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or

Principles of Neural Science

The mammalian ionotropic glutamate receptor family encodes 18 gene products that coassemble to form ligand-gated ion channels containing an agonist recognition site, a transmembrane ion permeation pathway, and gating elements that couple agonist-induced conformational changes to the opening or closing of the permeation pore. Glutamate receptors mediate fast excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system and are localized on neuronal and non-neuronal cells. These receptors regulate a broad spectrum of processes in the brain, spinal cord, retina, and peripheral nervous system. Glutamate receptors are postulated to play important roles in numerous neurological diseases and have attracted intense scrutiny. The description of glutamate receptor structure, including its transmembrane elements, reveals a complex assembly of multiple semiautonomous extracellular domains linked to a pore-forming element with striking resemblance to an inverted potassium channel. In this review we discuss International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology glutamate receptor nomenclature, structure, assembly, accessory subunits, interacting proteins, gene expression and translation, post-translational modifications, agonist and antagonist pharmacology, allosteric modulation, mechanisms of gating and permeation, roles in normal physiological function, as well as the potential therapeutic use of pharmacological agents acting at glutamate receptors.

/pdf/glutamate-receptor-ion-channels-structure-regulation-and-148yts0p6h.pdf

Glutamate Receptor Ion Channels: Structure, Regulation, and Function

The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics A Textbook of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics for Physicians and Medical Students. By Prof. Louis Goodman and Prof. Alfred Gilman. Pp. xiii + 1383. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941.) 50s. net.

The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics

http://www.back-in-business-physiotherapy.com/images/files/DescendingControl.pdf

Descending control of pain.

Degeneration and regeneration of the nervous system

Batrachotoxin, chemie und pharmakologie

(+/-)-2-Depentylperhydrohistrionicotoxin (4), several of its analogues, and N- and O-substituted derivatives were prepared and tested for their effects on the neuromuscular transmission of the frog sartorius muscle. Compound 4, its N-methyl derivative 5, the O-acetyl derivative 9, and the quaternary methiodides 19 and 20 blocked the indirectly elicited twitch. The oxidation of 4 and 5 to ketones 12 and 14 and their reduction to the epimeric alcohols 17 and 18 afforded materials with substantially reduced activity. N-Acetylation of 4 to 11 changed the course of the activity to a transient potentiation of muscle twitch. Both 4 and 5 were not very toxic to mice after subcutaneous administration. (+/-)-7-n-Butyl-1-azaspiro[5,5]undecan-8-one (12) epimerized readily at room temperature to afford the epimer 13, and preparation of the hydrochloride of its N-methylated derivative 14 was accompanied by a retro-Michael reaction, affording the 2-n-butyl-3-[4-(methylamino)butyl]cyclohexene-2-one (22). The strongly hydrogen-bonded alcohol 4 was analyzed as the hydrobromide by a single-crystal X-ray analysis, confirming its structure.

(.+-.)-2-depentylperhydrohistrionicotoxin: a new probe for a regulatory site on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-channel

The results from denervation and axonal transport blockade experiments in the rat and hibernating ground squirrel are presented. The evidence strongly supports the conclusion that the normal membrane potential in muscle fibers is maintained primarily through the influence of neuromodulators and to a small extent by muscle activity. The data also show that muscle disuse and degeneration products at the nerve terminal cannot explain the early changes of the junctional membrane that occur during denervation. Finally, observations from experiments with muscle degeneration produced by bupivacaine and the induction of terminal sprouts by this agent are described.

Edson X. Albuquerque

Papers

Batrachotoxin, chemie und pharmakologie

(.+-.)-2-depentylperhydrohistrionicotoxin: a new probe for a regulatory site on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-channel

Studies on Denervation, Disuse and Motor Nerve Sprouting in Mammalian Muscle