Main description:

It is indeed a pleasure to welcome all of you to this Inter national Symposium on the Neurohumoral coding of Brain Function. Many of you have undertaken a very long trip in order to cross swords with some of the most fascinating issues in all of the neurosciences. Of particular satisfaction in this instance is the geographical representation of the sciences with individuals here from Europe and the Americas - South, Central and North. As we do battle, so to speak, with each of the questions raised during the next several days, we should remember that the problems faced by each of our fields are exceptionally difficult. In a way, this difficulty stems from two related facts: (1) we are trying to construct a conceptual bridgework between one disci pline and another; and (2) the distance between the research fabric of any two of these disciplines is vast. It would probably not be unfair to say that a large number of scientists feel relatively contented in remaining within the bound aries of their own area of specialization. In a sense, that is certainly justifiable today primarily because of the intensity of such specialization. However, the participants of this symposium, who reflect some of the major thrusts in biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and psychology, have in the main chosen to explore the pathways that cross the interface between mind and body - be tween behavior and brain.

Contents:

I: Molecular Correlates of Brain Function.- The Role of ?-Aminobutyric Acid Metabolism in the Regulation of Cerebral Excitability.- Biochemical Neuranatomy of the Basal Ganglia.- Cyclic AMP and the Inhibition of Cerebellar Purkinje Cells by Noradrenergic Synapses.- Evidence for Cholinergic Transmission in the Cerebral Cortex.- II: Neurohumoral Mechanisms in Basic Physiologic Functions.- Coding of Metabolic Information by Hepatic Glucoreceptors.- Neurochemical Mechanisms of Temperature Regulation and Food Ingestion.- Functional Changes of Synapses.- The Chemical Coding of Aggression in Brain.- Regulation of Hippocampal Information Processing by K+ Release and (K+)o Accumulation: Possible Role in Learning.- III. Neurohumoral Mechanisms in Behavioral Regulation.- to Session III.- Modulatory Effects of Acetylcholine and Catecholamines in the Caudate Nucleus during Motor Conditioning.- The Effects of Drugs and Electrical Stimulation of the Brain on Memory Storage Processes.- Neurohumoral Coding of Sleep by the Physiological Sleep Factor Delta.- The Possible Nature of Sleep Inducing Brain Perfusates: Their Relationship to Seizure Inhibition.- 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid in Cerebrospinal Fluid during Wakefulness, Sleep, and After Electrical Stimulation of Specific Brain Structures.- Modulation of Subcortical Inhibitory Mechanisms by Melatonin.- Interaction of Amine Systems in the Central Nervous System in the Regulation of the States of Vigilance.- IV: Neurohumoral Factors and Mental Disorders.- Comparative Biochemical and Behavioral Studies of Chronic Schizophrenic Patients and Normals.- Phenylethylamine: Possible Role in Depression and Anti-depressive Drug Action.- Neurochemical, Neuroendocrine and Biorhythmic Aspects of Sleep in Man: Relationship to Clinical Pathological Disorders.- The Chemical Coding via the Cholinergic System: Its Organization and Behavioral Implications.- A Model of the Vertebrate Nervous System Based Largely on Disinhibition: A Key Role of the GABA System.- List of Contributors.- Author Index.