Exploring the Vertebrate Central Cholinergic Nervous System reviews the multiple methodologies that underlie cholinergic research.

Exploring the Vertebrate Central Cholinergic Nervous System stresses the concept and devotes considerable space to the history of the various topics of cholinergic research and modes of cholinergic discoveries.

Figures and diagrams help illustrate various subjects, and its photographs of "Cholinergikes" of the past and present bring a personal note to the text.

Exploring the Vertebrate Central Cholinergic Nervous System provides the reader with a very complete overview of cholinergicity and its ramifications and will be of interest to investigators, scholars, and students of various areas of neuroscience and neuroanatomy.

Contents

1. Cholinergic Cells and Pathways

• History of Methodological Development Needed to Define the Cholinergic Neuron, Explain Acetylcholine Releae, and Establish Central Cholinergic Pathways
• Morphology and Cytoanatomy, and Markers of Central Cholinergic Neurons
• Classical and Unorthodox Hypotheses of Acetylcholine Release
• Central Cholinergic Pathways—An Introduction

2. Metabolism of Acetylcholine Synthesis and Turnover

• ACh Synthesis
• Choline Metabolism
• Cholinesterases

3. History of Research on Nicotinic and Muscarinic Receptors

• Curare, Muscarine, Enzymes, and Bacteria
• Receptors and the Demonstration of Cholinergic Transmission
• The "Abstract" Phase of the Receptor Research
• The Reality of the Receptors
• Receptor Subtypes

4. Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors in the Central Nervous System: Structure, Function and Pharmacology

• Pharmacological Classification
• Localization and Distribution
• Molecular Biology
• Signaling Pathways
• Functional Insights Gained from the Use of Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor Knockout Mice

5.Neuronal Nicotinic Receptors: Structure and Functional Roles

• Structures of Nicotine Acetylcholine Receptors
• Functional Roles of Nicotinic Receptors

6. Anticholinesterases and War Gases

• Classification, Chemical Structures, Structure-Activity Relationships, and Bonding Relationships of Anticholinesterases
• Metabolism and Detoxification of Anticholinesterases
• Treatment of Anticholinesterase Poisoning
• Cholinergic Teratology

7. Cholinergic Aspects of Growth and Development

• Cholinergic Ontogeny: Precocious Developmental Appearance of the Components of the Cholinergic System
• Trophic and Growth Factors
• Nerve Growth Factor
• Teratologic and Ontogenetic Effects of Cholinergic Components and Cholinergic Agents

8. Central Cholinergic Nervous System and Its Correlates

• Cholinoceptive Responses
• Central Release of Acetylcholine
• Pharmacology of Central Cholinergic and Cholinomimetic Responses

9. Linking Amyloid and Tau Biology in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Cholinergic Aspects

• Dysregulated Processing of Neurocellular Proteins
• Amyloid
• Amyloid Precursor Protein
• Learning and Memory: Effects of Amyloid and Mutations of APP and PSI
• Tau Biology
• Potential Regulatory Interactions in the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease
• Therapy of Alzheimer's Disease and Future Directions

10. Envoi

• Immediate, Mundane Concerns
• The "Far Beyond" Matters
• The Last Word

Index

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