Full Description
This volume represents the proceedings of the third in a series of annual inter national symposia. The first, The Neuroregulation of Autonomic, Endocrine, and Immune Systems, was held in Indianapolis in the fall of 1985. The second, Psychological and Biological Approaches to the Understanding of Human Disease, was held in Bielefeld, Germany in the fall of 1986. The theme of this series concerns the communication between the central nervous system and the other major systems of the body, and the purpose is to monitor the frontiers of research into these neuronal/hormonal regulatory interactions and their application to medicine. The present volume deals with the role of peptides and amino acids in these information transfer processes. Great strides have been made in exploring the important role of amino acids and pep tides in neuroregulation, and the ongoing biotechnology revolution promises signi ficant scientific and medical advances throughout the next decade and beyond. The work described in this volume captures the great excitement and pro mise of this biomedical renaissance. This meeting was cosponsored by Searle/ Monsanto and Washington University and held in St. Louis in the early fall of 1986. A major contributor to these proceedings was Dr. Thomas O'Donohue whose chapter deals with his work in characterizing the endogenous ligands for the PCP and sigma opioid receptors. Tom's personality and career personi fied the dedication of this series to the principle of a broad multidisciplinary approach to scientific problems.
Contents
I. Excitatory Amino Acids.- 1. Excitatory Amino Acid Synapses: Studies of Normal and Reorganized Pathways.- 2. Conductance Mechanisms Activated by L-glutamate.- 3. Classification and Allosteric Modulation of Excitatory Amino Acid Signal Transduction in Brain Slices and Primary Cultures of Cerebellar Neurons.- 4. Excitatory Transmitters and Neuropsychiatric Disorders.- 5. Pharmacology of Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists and their Possible Therapeutic Use in Neurological Disease.- II. Trophic Factors.- 6. Evidence for the Role of Afferents in the Regulation of Neuronal Survival During Normal Periods of Developmental Cell Death: Motoneurons and the Ciliary Ganglion.- 7. The Biology of Nerve Growth Factor In Vivo.- 8. Schwann Cell Contact as a Factor in Neuronal Trophic Support and the Promotion of Neurite Growth.- 9. Role of Nerve Growth Factor in the Central Nervous System.- III. Neuropeptides.- 10. Neuropeptides: General Aspects.- 11. Role of Atriopeptin in Central Cardiovascular Control.- 12. Opioid Peptides: Possible Physiological Role As Endogenous Anticonvulsants.- 13. Alpha- and Beta-endopsychosins: Physiological Actions and Interactions with Excitatory Amino Acids.- 14. Neuropeptide Abnormalities in Alzheimer's and Huntington's Diseases.- IV. Short Communications.- 15. Demonstration of Individual Fibers from the Substantia Innominata to the Frontal Cortex of the Rat, Using Phaseolus vulgaris Leucoagglutinin (PHA-L).- 16. Determination of the Pharmacokinetics of 2-Amino-7-Phosphonoheptanoate in Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid.- 17. Afferents to the Horizontal Diagonal Band of the Rat.- 18. Male Infertility: Preliminary Evidence for Two Neuroendocrine Mediators of Stress on Gonadal Function.- 19. Specific (D,L)-[3H]2-Amino-4-Phosphonobutyric Acid Binding toFrozen Synaptic Plasma Membranes.- 20. L-[3H]Glutamate Binding to an N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Recognition Site in Synaptic Plasma Membranes.- 21. Antagonist Effects of Y-Glutamyl-Aminomethylsulfonate in the In Vitro Hippocampal Slice.- 22. "Transmitter Specific" Inputs to the Mediodorsal Thalamic Nucleus in the Rat.- 23. Characterization of Nerve Growth Factor Receptor-Bearing Cells in Cultures of Brain Tissue.- 24. Role of Hypothalamic GABA in Aversively Motivated Behaviors.- 25. Cholecystokinin Release from Rat Caudato-Putamen Slices Incubated In Vitro Is Inhibited by Excitatory Amino Acids.- 26. Luminescent Immunoassay for Salivary Cortisol Measurement in Psychoendocrine Studies.- 27. A Quantitative Study of the Development Expression of Nerve Growth Factor Receptors in Rats.
