Nerves and brain

Multi-cell eukaryotes with nerves and brains As above plus Na+, K+, Cl- potentials New memory and responses to environment... 

In the late 1600s, Thomas Willis coined the term neurology and suggested that hysteria was a disorder of the nerves and brain. Willis was an important figure in establishing the biological bases for psychological disturbances. 

Hallett M, Cohen LG Magnetism a new method for stimulation of nerve and brain. JAMA 262 538-541, 1989... 

Anyone with the condition phenylketonuria (PKU), a metabolic disorder, should be particularly careful about nitrous oxide use. Individuals with PKU require a diet that is high in protein in low in animal fats, which frequently results in a vitamin B12 deficiency. Nitrous oxide can remove even more B12 from these individuals bloodstreams, possibly causing mental impairments, as well as severe nerve and brain damage. 

Phosphorus occurs in nature mainly as the minerals apatite, Ca5(P04)3F, hydroxy-apatite, Ca,r,(P04)3(0H), and tricalcium phosphate (phosphate rock, ranging in composition from Ca3(P04)o to hydroxyapatite). Kydroxy-apatite is the main mineral constituent of the bones and teeth of animals, and complex organic compounds of phosphorus are essential constituents of nerve and brain tissue and of many proteins, and are involved significantly in the metabolic reactions of living organisms. 

Glycerophospholipids are present in a variety of tissues in the body but more particularly in nerve and brain. They are involved in several fundamental biochemical processes and much more work remains to be done to clarify both their complete function and structural content. As a class, they are fatty acids esters of esterified glycerophosphoric acid (12) and eliminate the phosphate ester group under GC conditions [283,284]. 

The Cell in Action Figure 32. Muscle, nerves, and brain... 

Here, we will begin first by considering the biochemistry of muscle, and then some aspects of the special biochemistry of nerve and brain. 

Dudus L, Anand V, Acland GM, et al. Persistent transgene product in retina, optic nerve and brain after intraocular injection of rAAV. Vision Res 1999 39 2545-2553. 

Thanos, S., Bahr, M., Barde, Y.A. and Vaneslow, J. (1989) Survival and axonal elongation of adult rat retinal ganglion cells. In vitro effects of lesioned sciatic nerve and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Eur. J. Neurosci. 1 19-26. 

Propane and butane are two commonly used propellants. These are also harmful because when inhaled they depress the central nervous system and may lead to cardiac or pulmonary arrest. Permanent nerve and brain damage could occur. 

Sohmer H. and Student M. 1978. Auditory nerve and brain-stem evoked responses in normal, autistic, minimal biain dysfunction and psychomotor retarded children. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 44 380-388... 

Cholesterol and its fatty acid esters are important components of nerve and brain cells and are precnrsors of the biological materials snch as bile acids and steroid hormones. Accumulation of cholesterol in blood leads to fatal diseases such as arteriosclerosis, cerebral thrombosis and coronary diseases. Kajiya and co-workers immobilised cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) and ferrocene carboxylate in PPy electrochemically to describe the sensitivity of the resulting films [188]. The response was proportional to the cholesterol concentration up to 0.05 mM. It has been demonstrated that ferrocene attached to polymer chains can mediate electron transfer from horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to a conventional electrode surface [189]. In the case of immobilised HRP and ChOx the sensor yields 0.35 i,A to 10 mM of cholesterol whereas 3 pA was obtained in the case of free ChOx. It was therefore suggested that the sensor response is limited by the interfacial transport or reaction rate of H2O2. The sensor response was also found to be independent of the applied potential between -100 and 100 mV. 

Answers to many basic problems of biology—nature of growth, mechanism of duplication of viruses and genes, action of enzymes, mechanism of physiological activity of drags, hormones, and vitamins, structure and action of nerve and brain tissue— may lie in knowledge of molecular structure and intermolecvlar reactions. 

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