Abel Lajtha

Naren Banik

Neural Protein Metabolism and Function

Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Neurobiology

This volume is concerned with metabolic reactions occurring in the nervous system. Some time ago, it was thought that since most of the intermediary metabolism that can be observed in the brain is not specific to this organ, there is little justification in studying neural metabolism as such. Later it was realized that for an understanding of neural functions, the understanding of metabolism in the brain and its alterations is essential. All aspects of the metabolism of a substrate in brain, or all metabolic reactions of the nervous system, could not be included in this volume; some will be dealt with in other volumes (such as the ones covering metabolic turn over, alterations of metabolism, or pathology). Review of the aspects covered here clearly shows that the study of metabolic reactions in the nervous system is a very active field, producing important results. As in so many areas of research, as we learn more, new aspects become known, new questions emerge, and we see that in solving some problems we open areas with many additional problems to solve. But the accomplishments to date are impressive and indicate further important advances in the future. Brain metabolism is more active, more plastic, and more comprehensive than previously estimated. It is an essential part of brain function, and with its alteration, brain function will be altered. This shows the importance of more knowledge in this area. It is hoped that this volume will be of assistance in such further studies.

Metabolism in the Nervous System

After the completion of the first edition of this series, this editor thought that a new edition would not be warranted in less than IS, perhaps 20, years, but it seems that we live in a time in which rapid changes are the norm and findings in a field such as neurochemistry develop exponentially. The task of a future editor attempting to get a comprehensive neurochemical handbook for the year 2000 would be even less enviable, but by then information processing may be very different. The approach, the design, and the areas covered by each volume and each chapter are necessarily arbitrary, and it is likely that other editors or authors would have approached the coverage or the organization in a different manner. It is hoped, however, that readers will find the series helpful for beginning or for continuing work. There may be some overlap among the various chapters, but insisting on single coverage of an area would at times have restricted treatment to only one point of view and might have truncated and hurt the logical flow of some of the chapters.

Chemical and Cellular Architecture

Neurochemistry, having the objective of elucidating biochemical processes subserving nervous activity, emerged as an application of chemistry to the of neurobiological problems as a post-World War II phenomenon. investigation However, only in the last 40 years has the chemical community recognized neurochemistry as a distinct, if hybrid, discipline. During this period great strides have been made. However, recently neurochemistry, along with neu rophysiology, neuropharmacology, neuroanatomy, and the behavioral sci ences, has emerged to form neuroscience, a new community of scientists with its own national society, journals, and meetings. Actually, this recently formed hybrid, neuroscience, is in the process of merging with another well-established discipline, molecular genetics (frequently called molecular biology, and itself a hybrid), which appears to have sufficient hybrid vigor to form yet a new community of scientists, which, for want of a more imaginative term, has been called molecular genetic neuroscience. Clearly, advantages resulting from such mergers or hybridizations accrue not only from the merging discipline (neurochemistry in this case) to the new community (molecular genetic neuroscience), but also in the reverse direction. This Foreword will be concerned primarily with examples of this latter process.

Structural Elements of the Nervous System

Arne Schousboe

Simo S. Oja

Pirjo Saransaari

"This volume deals with the role of amino acids and small peptides in the central nervous system. The various chapters describe individually the metabolism and functions of the different compounds."--Pref.

Amino Acids and Peptides in the Nervous System

Handbook of Neurochemistry

Gary E. Gibson

Gerry A. Dienel

Gerald A. Dienel

Brain Energetics. Integration of Molecular and Cellular Processes

Katsuhiko Mikoshiba

Part of a landmark series on neurochemistry, this volume focuses on molecular events involved in synapse formulation, synaptic plasticity and ongoing neural activity. Special attention is paid to function and trafficking of membrane proteins.

Neural Signaling Mechanisms

This volume is concerned with the enzymes of the nervous system. Cerebral enzymes form the basis of the functional brain. They are needed for the control of the energetics of the nervous system, whether it be their release or their direction; for the elaboration of transmitters and for their destruction; for the synthesis, transport, and breakdown of all metabolites of the nervous system. They are indispensable for the control of the multitude of factors that govern our thinking and our behavior. They make it possible for us to comprehend what is taking place around us and perhaps to understand what may be in store for us. Enzymes are the stuff of life, and no living cell can be without them. They are the results of many millions of years of evolution, from the time when biological membranes first came into being and were folded to produce the first cells within which the earliest enzymes were wrought. Countless changes have taken place within them, so that, now, only those enzymes exist that play specific roles in the functions of the living cells of today. Those in the nervous system possess a mUltiple role: in the creation, maintenance, and ultimate breakdown of the component cells and in enabling consciousness, perception, memory, and thought to become possible. But though life may go on forever, the enzymes that make life possible will undergo the many changes involved in the evolutionary process.

Volume 4 Enzymes in the Nervous System

The explosive accumulation of new knowledge in the biological sciences in the last decades has advanced our understanding of the basic mechanisms that underlie most biological phenomena. These advances, however, have not been uniform but have varied considerably among the different biological problems. In some cases, e.g., biochemical genetics, radical advances have been made which have changed our ideas and our approaches. In other cases, even with work which has yielded much detailed new knowledge, our under standing of basic mechanisms remains very inadequate. Among the lines of work that have not yet led to dramatic conceptual advances is the problem of control of biological activities. This problem is, of course, basic both to any full understanding of life as a whole, and to any real understanding of its most minute phenomena. Indeed, the myriad of biological activities that we can observe by direct or indirect means are all under the sway of most exquisitely precise mechanisms. Any malfunctioning of these mechanisms has serious consequences, not only for the particular function itself, but for all the related and interlinked activities.

Control Mechanisms in the Nervous System

Volume II: Structural Neurochemistry

Anyone who has any contact with mental patients, old or young, or their families, or just visits a mental hospital or school for the retarded, is aware of the tremendous suffering caused by malfunctioning of the brain. The func tion of no other organ is so crucial for our everyday life, our proper func tioning, indeed our happiness, and no other illness causes as much anguish to patients or their families as mental illness. It is surprising and sad, therefore, how little effort has been devoted to research in this area; more so because such research is the only hope to ameliorate this suffering, or, to speak in the language of politics or economics, to decrease the enormous sums that we spend on trying to help our patients, with what is must generally be agreed are the most primitive and inadequate methods of treatment. Clearly, since functions of the brain are vital not only in illness, but in health, pathology is not the only area of concern to neurochemists, but it is an area that urgently needs neurochemical contributions. Progress in this field has been slower than in other areas of neurochemistry, and it seems that solutions in this field are very elusive. The reason for this is that the experimental approach is especially difficult in conditions specific for humans, or specific for complex behavior.

Volume VII Pathological Chemistry of the Nervous System

Guido Tettamanti

Gianfrancesco Goracci

Contents include: 'Biochemistry and molecular biology of neural lipids', 'Advances in lipid analysis/lipidomics', 'Metabolism and enzymology of glycerolipids', 'Lipid metabolism in brain development and aging', 'Cellular and subcellular localization of neural lipids', and much more.

Neural Lipids

Handbook of Neurochemistry: Alterations of metabolites in the nervous system

Peter Riederer

Moussa B.H. Youdim

Moussa Youdin

Leontino Battistin

Sylvia A. Mandel

Degenerative Diseases of the Nervous System

Daniel C. Javitt

Joshua Kantrowitz

This volume of the Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Neurobiology focuses on neurochemical aspects of schizophrenia. Chapters cover the full range of schizophrenia symptoms and anatomical pathologies from neurochemical and molecular biology perspectives. Topics include changes in neurotransmitter systems, alteration in receptors, neurotransmitter release, genetic factors, protein alterations, and redox dysregulation.

Abel Lajtha

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