No detailed description available for "Toxins as Tools in Neurochemistry".

International Review of Neurobiology

Scientists agree that exposure to toxic agents in the environment can cause neurological and psychiatric illnesses ranging from headaches and depression to syndromes resembling parkinsonism. It can even result in death at high exposure levels. The emergence of subclinical neurotoxicity-the concept that long-term impairments can escape clinical detection-makes the need for risk assessment even more critical. This volume paves the way toward definitive solutions, presenting the current consensus on risk assessment and environmental toxicants and offering specific recommendations. The book covers: The biologic basis of neurotoxicity. Progress in the application of biologic markers. Reviews of a wide range of in vitro and in vivo testing techniques. The use of surveillance and epidemiology to identify neurotoxic hazards that escape premarket screening. Research needs. This volume will be an important resource for policymakers, health specialists, researchers, and students.

The exquisite simplicity and potency of toxins have made them valuable probes of neural systems. This book presents a comprehensive compilation of techniques used for the preparation, handling, and, particularly, for the use of neurotoxins. Model systems are described in which these neurotoxins have been extremely valuable in developing an understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of secretion and electrophysiological events leading to altered cell function. - Convenient benchtop format - Methods presented for easy adaptation to new systems - A virtual "A-B-C" of commonly used and available toxins - Comprehensive protocols included for the use of alpha toxin, apamin, batrachotoxin; botulina toxin, bungarotoxin; channel ligands: agonists and antagonists; capsaicin; charybdotoxin, ciguatoxin; Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin; cholera toxin (choleragen); conotoxin; dendrotoxin; endothelin; fasciculin; geographutoxin; latrotoxin; natural toxins; neosurgatoxin; palytoxin; pertussis toxin; resiniferatoxin; sarafotoxin; scorpion toxin; snake venom toxins

This volume establishes the conceptual foundation for sustained investigation into tool development in neuroscience. Neuroscience relies on diverse and sophisticated experimental tools, and its ultimate explanatory target—our brains and hence the organ driving our behaviors—catapults the investigation of these research tools into a philosophical spotlight. The chapters in this volume integrate the currently scattered work on tool development in neuroscience into the broader philosophy of science community. They also present an accessible compendium for neuroscientists interested in the broader theoretical dimensions of their experimental practices. The chapters are divided into five thematic sections. Section 1 discusses the development of revolutionary research tools across neuroscience’s history and argues to various conclusions concerning the relationship between new research tools and theory progress in neuroscience. Section 2 shows how a focus on research tools and their development in neuroscience transforms some traditional epistemological issues and questions about knowledge production in philosophy of science. Section 3 speaks to the most general questions about the way we characterize the nature of the portion of the world that this science addresses. Section 4 discusses hybrid research tools that integrate laboratory and computational methods in exciting new ways. Finally, Section 5 extends research on tool development to the related science of genetics. The Tools of Neuroscience Experiment will be of interest to philosophers and philosophically minded scientists working at the intersection of philosophy and neuroscience.

This handbook is a reference source for identifying, characterizing, instructing on use, and describing outcomes of neurotoxin treatments – to understand mechanisms associated with toxin use; to project outcomes of neurotoxin treatments; to gauge neurotoxins as predictors of events leading to neurodegenerative disorders and as aids to rational use of neurotoxins to model disease entities. Neuroprotection is approached in different manners including those 1) afforded by therapeutic agents – clinical and preclinical; or 2) by non-drug means, such as exercise. The amorphous term ‘neurotoxin’ is discussed in terms of the possible eventuality of a neuroprotectant producing an outcome of excess neuronal survival and a behavioral spectrum that might produce a dysfunction – akin to a neurotoxin’s effect. This new edition significantly expands on the information provided in the first edition, providing the latest research in neurotoxicity and highlighting the relationship between specific neurotoxins and the neurodegenerative disorders they can cause. It also includes new sections on the neurotoxicity of heavy metals, fungi, and snake venom. The Handbook of Neurotoxicity is thus an instructive and valuable guide towards understanding the role of neurotoxins/neurotoxicity in the expansive field of Neuroscience, and is an indispensable tool for laboratory investigators, neuroscientists, and clinical researchers.

Organized primarily around the mechanisms of action of the toxins at the biochemical, physiological and pathological level, rather than by source, the handbook covers most toxins which have been clearly identified and characterized, but emphasizes toxins that are more important by virtue of the sign

Conn's Translational Neuroscience provides a comprehensive overview reflecting the depth and breadth of the field of translational neuroscience, with input from a distinguished panel of basic and clinical investigators. Progress has continued in understanding the brain at the molecular, anatomic, and physiological levels in the years following the 'Decade of the Brain,' with the results providing insight into the underlying basis of many neurological disease processes. This book alternates scientific and clinical chapters that explain the basic science underlying neurological processes and then relates that science to the understanding of neurological disorders and their treatment. Chapters cover disorders of the spinal cord, neuronal migration, the autonomic nervous system, the limbic system, ocular motility, and the basal ganglia, as well as demyelinating disorders, stroke, dementia and abnormalities of cognition, congenital chromosomal and genetic abnormalities, Parkinson's disease, nerve trauma, peripheral neuropathy, aphasias, sleep disorders, and myasthenia gravis. In addition to concise summaries of the most recent biochemical, physiological, anatomical, and behavioral advances, the chapters summarize current findings on neuronal gene expression and protein synthesis at the molecular level. Authoritative and comprehensive, Conn's Translational Neuroscience provides a fully up-to-date and readily accessible guide to brain functions at the cellular and molecular level, as well as a clear demonstration of their emerging diagnostic and therapeutic importance. - Provides a fully up-to-date and readily accessible guide to brain functions at the cellular and molecular level, while also clearly demonstrating their emerging diagnostic and therapeutic importance - Features contributions from leading global basic and clinical investigators in the field - Provides a great resource for researchers and practitioners interested in the basic science underlying neurological processes - Relates and translates the current science to the understanding of neurological disorders and their treatment

Neurotoxicology is a broad and burgeoning field of research. Its growth in recent years can be related, in part, to increased interest in and concern with the fact that a growing number of anthropogenic agents with neurotoxic potential, including pesticides, lead, mercury, and the polytypic bypro ducts of combustion and industrial production, continue to be spewed into and accumulate in the environment. In addition, there is great interest in natural products, including toxins, as sources of therapeutic agents. Indeed, it is well known that many natural toxins of broadly differing structure, produced or accumulated for predatory or defensive purposes, and toxic agents, accumulated incidentally by numerous species, function to perturb nervous tissue. Components of some of these toxins have been shown to be useful therapeutic agents and/or research reagents. Unfor tunately, the environmental accumulation of some neurotoxic ants of anthropogenic ori gin, especially pesticides and metals, has resulted in incidents of human poisoning, some of epidemic proportion, and high levels of morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, an increasing incidence of neurobehavioral disorders, some with baffling symptoms, is confronting clinicians. It is not clear whether this is merely the result of increased vigi lance and/or improved diagnostics or a consequence of improved health care. In any case, the role of exposure to environmental and occupational neurotoxic ants in the etiology of these phenomena, as well as neurodegenerative diseases, is coming under increasing scrutiny and investigation.