Ebook: Brain Biochemistry

The student of biological science in his final years as an undergraduate and his first years as a graduate is expected to gain some familiarity with current research at the frontiers of his discipline. New research work is published in a perplexing diversity of publications and is inevitably concerned with the minutiae of the subject. The sheer number of research journals and papers also causes confusion and difficulties of assimilation. Review articles usually presuppose a back­ ground knowledge of the field and are inevitably rather restricted in scope. There is thus a need for short but authoritative introductions to those areas of modern biological research which are either not dealt with in standard introductory textbooks or are not dealt with in suffi­ cient detail to enable the student to go on from them to read scholarly reviews with profit. This series of books is designed to satisfy this need. The authors have been asked to produce a brief outline of their subject assuming that their readers will have read and remembered much of a standard introductory textbook on biology. This outline then sets out to provide by building on this basis, the conceptual framework within which modern research work is progressing and aims to give the reader an indication of the problems, both conceptual and practical, which must be overcome if progress is to be maintained.

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1 Introduction.- 1.1 Regional cerebral metabolism.- 1.2 Cerebral requirements for glucose and oxygen.- References.- 2 Appearance of the brain.- 2.1 Gross appearance.- 2.2 Fluid compartments.- 2.3 Microscopic appearance.- 2.3.1 Neurones.- 2.3.2 Glial cells.- 2.3.3 The synapse.- References.- 3 Neurotransmission.- 3.1 The resting potential.- 3.2 The sodium pump.- 3.3 The action potential and nerve conduction.- 3.4 Chemical events at the synapse.- 3.4.1 Identification and occurrence of neurotransmitters.- 3.4.2 The quantum hypothesis.- 3.4.3 Metabolism of acetylcholine.- 3.4.4 Catecholamines: noradrenaline and dopamine.- 3.4.5 5-Hydroxytryptamine.- 3.4.6 Breakdown of the biogenic amines.- 3.4.7 Metabolism of the neuroactive amino acids.- 3.4.8 The neuroactive peptides.- 3.5 Origin of synaptic vesicles.- 3.6 Post-synaptic events.- 3.6.1 Involvement of cyclic nucleotides.- 3.6.2 Receptors.- 3.7 Neurone-axonal transport.- 3.7.1 Mechanism of transport in axoplasmic flow.- 3.7.2 Axonal protein synthesis.- References.- 4 Adaptive processes in the brain.- 4.1 Inducible enzymes.- 4.1.1 Adaptation to specific substrates.- 4.1.2 Adaptation to the product of an alternate pathway.- 4.1.3 Adaptation involving coenzyme.- 4.1.4 Adaptation in response to hormones.- 4.2 Adaptation to the environment.- 4.2.1 Light.- 4.2.2 The pineal gland.- 4.3 Drug tolerance and dependence.- 4.3.1 Morphine.- 4.3.2 Amphetamines.- 4.3.3 Ethanol.- 4.4 Learning and memory as adaptive processes?.- References.