Title: Molecular mechanisms of neuronal responsiveness
Description: The interaction of neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and neuroactive drugs with receptors localized at the cell surface initiates a chain of molecular events leading to integrated neuronal responses to the triggering stimuli. Major advancements in the characterization and isolation of receptor molecules have answered many questions regarding the nature of the elements that determine the specificity in these interactions. At the same time, recent studies have provided evidence that delicate regulation by intracellular enzymatic systems determines the efficiency of the stimulus-response coupling process, mediates the interaction between receptors, operates in feedback control mechanisms and transduces signals from the receptors to various effector sites in a highly coordinated fashion.

These studies are at the focus of the present volume, which is an outcome of a symposium held at the University of Vermont College of Medicine on March 21-23, 1986, in conjunction with the seventeenth annual meeting of the American Society for Neurochemistry. The symposium has demonstrated clearly that the concerted efforts of investigators in neurophysiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, cell-biology, molecular genetics, neurology, and psychiatry are required to achieve better understanding of the processes underlying neuronal responsiveness. This volume includes contributions provided by prominent investigators in all these research areas. We hope that the readers will find here a useful source of information and ideas for stimulating further studies which may serve to narrow the gap between basic neuroscience research and its clinical implications.

Whereas many of the processes under discussion operate similarly in all eukaryotic cells, this volume emphasizes those features believed to be unique to neurons. In particular, cells in the nervous system have the capability of undergoing extremely long-lasting alterations in response to hormonal, pharmacological and environmental stimulations. These adaptive processes can result in behavioral changes. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms involved will undoubtedly yield novel strategies for the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Accordingly, this volume is arranged in three sections: I. Signal Transduction and Stimulus-Response Coupling; II. Neuronal Adaptation of recent findings on the mechanisms of neuromodulation. The chapters included in each section provide up-to-date reviews and summaries of recent developments in the field, as well as descriptions of specific studies which may offer potential new directions in this rapidly growing area of research.

Section I of this volume focused on basic mechanisms of intracellular communication and includes chapters on the regulation of stimulus-secretion coupling, and on the role of ion-channels, mobilization of calcium ions, metabolism of fatty acids and polyphosphoinositides, cyclic nucleotides and protein phosphorylation systems--in receptor-mediated stimulation. A diversity of experimental approaches in represented: electrophysiological studies, biochemical investigations conducted on several levels of organization (cell-free assays, intact cultured cells, in situ and in-vivo studies) and the use of model systems and novel procedures of molecular biology for shedding new light on molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal responsivness.

In section II different approaches to molecular studies of adaptive processes are demonstrated, including mechanisms of receptor desensitization, long-term regulation of ion channels, synaptic-potentiation, development of tolerance, the kindling process, genetic influences on chemoreception and the expression of genomic changes induced by receptor blockade. The behavioral and clinical implications of recent advances in neurochemical studies of neuronal responsiveness are highlighted in section III, with chapters spanning from grooming behavior in the rat to neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, and including studies on seizure activity and epilepsy, stress, neurodegeneration and regeneration, mechanism of action of benzodiazepine drugs and antidepressants, as well as recent studies implicating specific biochemical systems in etiology and treatment a major affective disorders.
Subjects: Neural transmission, Regulation, Congresses, Neural receptors, Neuroplasticity, Synaptic Transmission, Neuronal Plasticity, Neurotransmitter Receptors, Neurons, Physiology, Synapses