Leslie L. Iversen

Solomon H. Snyder

Susan D. Iversen

"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 Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, the neuropsychological features of the disease, and attempts to treat it. In this volume, we have selected topics and authors who are beginning to question some of the earlier assumptions and to ask different questions about dementia. In the first four chapters the neuropathology and neu rochemistry of dementia are reevaluated. It is important to understand the relationship between the formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the progressive degeneration in cortex, and the neurochemical deafferentation of cortex. In particular, the possibility is considered that the most severe pathology is seen in a well-defined limbo/cortical circuitry known to be involved in mnemonic processing. The growing interest in the genetic determinants of familial Alz heimer's is reviewed. It is also recognized that detailed comparisons of the neural and psychological characteristics of the various degenerative dis eases that impair cognitive processing may be valuable.

Volume 20 Psychopharmacology of the Aging Nervous System

Handbook of Psychopharmacology

Handbook of Psychopharmacology: Biochemical principles and techniques in neuropharmacology

A Tribute to Julius Axelrod

Perspectives in Neuropharmacology

Leslie Iversen

Volumes 7 and 8 of the Handbook were published in 1977. In Volume 7 methods for studying unconditioned and conditioned behavior were reviewed. Attention was given to both ethological methods and operant conditioning techniques as applied to some selected aspects of behavior. Genetic, developmental, and environmental factors influencing behavior were also discussed. In Volume 8, neurotransmitter systems, and in par ticular brain circuits, were discussed in relation to behavior and to the effects of psychoactive drugs on behavior. The coverage was not exhaus tive because of space limitations. The topics selected for review were, at the time, the focus of considerable experimental effort; they included homeostasis-motivated behaviors: sleep, locomotion, feeding, drinking, and sexual behavior. Brain dopamine systems were therefore discussed in depth, since they were already known to be centrally involved in motivated behaviors. Learning mechanisms and emotion were reviewed in the remaining chapters. In 1984 we initiated an update of behavioral pharmacology to review areas of progress within the same scope as the earlier volumes. This update continues in Volume 19. Among the contributions are several that represent important advances in analyzing behavior and the use of more sophisticated methods to define the effect of drugs on particular aspects of behavior. The chapters by Blundell on feeding and Miczek on aggres sion illustrate the sophistication of modern ethopharmacology.

Volume 19 New Directions in Behavioral Pharmacology

The discovery of how opiates such as morphine and heroin relieve pain and produce euphoria is one of the most dramatic tales of modern science. It begins in 1971 when, at the height of the undeclared war in Vietnam, Richard Nixon officially announced a war on drugs. Heroin addiction--no longer confined to urban ghettos--was causing bad public relations for the White House. The specter of young American soldiers demoralized, drugged, and committing atrocities was not the image President Nixon wished to convey as he argued for further bombings of North Vietnam. In this book Solomon Snyder describes the political maneuverings and scientific sleuthing that led him and Candace Pert, then a graduate student in his lab, to a critical breakthrough in the effort to understand addiction. Their discovery--the so-called opiate receptor--is a structure on the surface of certain nerve cells that attracts opiates. Heroin or morphine molecules fit into opiate receptors much as a key fits into the ignition switch of a car--thus turning on the engine of the cell. Snyder and his students were able to show that nerve cells which possess opiate receptors are found in precisely those parts of the brain that control emotion and pain. Dr. Snyder describes the friendly yet intense competition from other researchers to expand upon this initial discovery. From the work of two Scottish investigators, Hans Kosterlitz and John Hughes, neuroscientists now know not only where opiate receptors are found in the brain but also why they are there: to serve as binding sites for an opiate-like substance produced by the brain itself--the brain's own morphine. This substance, called enkephalin, regulates pain, mood, and a host of other physiological functions. From this very human chronicle of scientific battles in the ongoing war against pain and addiction, we gain an appreciation of the extraordinary intellectual processes of an eminent scientist. But Dr. Snyder's story of scientific brainstorming also affords us rare glimpses into the fruitful, sometimes frustrating, relationships among scientists which enrich and complicate creative work. We are reminded of the delicate political alliances that are forged at every level of organization, from the lab bench to the Oval Office, as the scientific community attempts to fit its needs to those of the larger society.

The Science and Politics of Opiate Research

Brainstorming

Earl Usdin

Frontiers in Catecholamine Research is a collection of papers presented at the Third International Catecholamine Symposium, held at the University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, on May 20-25, 1973. This book is organized into nine parts encompassing 205 chapters. The text begins with a discussion on clinically and experimentally used drugs that have been developed or whose mechanism of action has been clarified through monoamine research. Parts II and III deal with enzymes related to catecholamine studies, their properties, regulation, genetics, mechanism of action, and localization. Parts IV and V examine the concepts of synaptic dynamics of brain regulators and the isolation, characterization, methods of analysis, and mechanism of action of catecholamines. Part VI focuses on the complexities that surround the extrapolation of catecholamine function into the realms of electrophysiology and behavior. Part VII discusses the metabolism, behavioral, neurological, and physiological effects of amphetamine and other drugs of abuse. The concluding parts describe the role of catecholamine and its metabolism in neurologic diseases, such as schizophrenia.

Solomon H. Snyder

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