Nervous system overview

Grace, A.A., Gerfen, C.R., and Aston-Jones, G. (1998) Catecholamines in the central nervous system. Overview. Adv Pharmacol 42 655-670. 

Although blood pressure control follows Ohm s law and seems to be simple, it underlies a complex circuit of interrelated systems. Hence, numerous physiologic systems that have pleiotropic effects and interact in complex fashion have been found to modulate blood pressure. Because of their number and complexity it is beyond the scope of the current account to cover all mechanisms and feedback circuits involved in blood pressure control. Rather, an overview of the clinically most relevant ones is presented. These systems include the heart, the blood vessels, the extracellular volume, the kidneys, the nervous system, a variety of humoral factors, and molecular events at the cellular level. They are intertwined to maintain adequate tissue perfusion and nutrition. Normal blood pressure control can be related to cardiac output and the total peripheral resistance. The stroke volume and the heart rate determine cardiac output. Each cycle of cardiac contraction propels a bolus of about 70 ml blood into the systemic arterial system. As one example of the interaction of these multiple systems, the stroke volume is dependent in part on intravascular volume regulated by the kidneys as well as on myocardial contractility. The latter is, in turn, a complex function involving sympathetic and parasympathetic control of heart rate intrinsic activity of the cardiac conduction system complex membrane transport and cellular events requiring influx of calcium, which lead to myocardial fibre shortening and relaxation and affects the humoral substances (e.g., catecholamines) in stimulation heart rate and myocardial fibre tension. 

The present chapter will address the following issues (1) a very brief overview on the properties of the different types of Cl -channels in the various mammalian cells (2) a short summary on what is known of Cl channels on a molecular basis (3) a discussion of pharmacological agents blocking the various Cl -channels and (4) a specific section dealing with the regulation of epithelial and maybe other Cl -channels. This entire area has been reviewed rather extensively in the recent past. A large number of references will be provided in order to keep this text concise. The entire field of Cl -channels in the central nervous system will only be touched upon to compare these channels to the Cl -channels in apolar cells and epithelia. 

First, however, the function of the individual components of the nervous system, how they are connected together, and how they operate as a complete system should be very briefly overviewed. 

Abstract Quantitative receptor autoradiography methods have heen widely used over the last three decades to study the distribution and physiological role of a receptor in various tissues. This review provides an overview of in vivo and in vitro receptor autoradiography methods and their advantages as well as disadvantages in the study of receptors in the central nervous system. Comparison with immuno-histochemical and in situ hybridization methods is also highlighted in relation to the study of a given receptor in the nervous sytem. 

Borreliosis is a disease that frequently and typically affects both the central and peripheral nervous systems (Table 13 for a historical overview, see Table 14). Owing to the frequent occurrence in our area, it is possible to observe highly variable clinical manifestations as well as different types of pathological appearances in cerebrospinal fluid. Current methods used in neuroborreliosis diagnosis include the evaluation of specific antibodies IgM, IgG detected by ELISA, Western blot, and PCR. 

In Chapter 1, John Lowe details The Role of Medicinal Chemistry in Drug Discovery in the twenty first century. The overview should prove invaluable to novice medicinal chemists and process chemists who are interested in appreciating what medicinal chemists do. In Chapter 2, Neal Anderson summarizes his experience in process chemistry. The perspectives provide a great insight for medicinal chemists who are not familiar with what process chemistry entails. Their contributions afford a big picture of both medicinal chemistry and process chemistry, where most of the readers are employed. Following two introductory chapters, the remainder of the book is divided into three major therapeutic areas I. Cancer and Infectious Diseases (five chapters) II. Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases (six chapters) and III. Central Nervous System Diseases (four chapters). 

Ohouha DC, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE The role of serotonin in schizophrenia an overview of the nomenclature, distribution and alterations of serotonin receptors in the central nervous system. Psychopharmacology 112 S5-S15, 1993... 

Like barbiturates, benzodiazepines reduce the activity of the nervous system. They do this by acting on the type-A GABA (or GABA ) receptor, which is the protein that the neurotransmitter GABA activates when it is secreted by one nerve cell onto another (refer back to Ghapter 1 for an overview of how nerve cells communicate). When this receptor binds GABA, nerve cells become less active. Thus, like GABA, benzodiazepines deactivate nerve cells. 

Different types of contacts between technical systems and the nervous system are common in experimental medicine and clinical application. In the following an overview is given on the main concepts for recording nerve signals and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exert their toxicity in the central nervous system through various mechanisms. The following is a brief overview of the pathways involved. 

After the fusion of a synaptic vesicle, the RRP is refilled from the recycling pool of synaptic vesicles. For central nervous system synapses (e.g., synapses of hippocampal neurons), the recycling pool of synaptic vesicles consists of approximately 30 vesicles, approximately three to five times the number of RRP vesicles (15, 16). During repetitive synaptic stimulation, the rapid refilling of the RRP from the recycling pool sustains continuous neurotransmitter release. An overview of the synaptic vesicle cycle is shown in Fig. 1. 

In this context, the main objective of this chapter will be to provide an overview to the shucture and organization of the nervous system that is relevant to the understanding of the unique interactions between the nervous and the immune system and to elucidate the pathogenesis of Alzheimer s disease (AD), Parkinson s disease (PD), HTV encephalitis (HIVE), and other neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory disorders (Ringheim and Conant, 2004 Gendelman, 2002 Ho etal., 2005). 

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