Microchemical Analysis of Nervous Tissue focuses on the use of microbiochemical methods in the analysis of nervous tissue, with emphasis on those related to the study of amines, amino acids, phospholipids, and proteins. Special attention is paid to the choice of biological material and the various procedures used for the isolation by dissection of defined components of the nervous system. Comprised of 10 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of microprocedures used in neurochemistry, followed by a discussion on the importance of choosing the biological material for microanalysis. The isolation of nervous tissue for analysis is then considered, with particular reference to invertebrate neurons; cell components from fresh, "fixed," freeze-dried, and frozen impregnated tissue; and discrete areas of nervous tissue. Subsequent chapters describe some instruments and glassware used in microprocedures, along with the applications of such procedures; general techniques used in microprocedures; microdetermination of phospholipids as well as amines and amino acids as dansyl derivatives; and microelectrophoresis of proteins. This book will be of interest to molecular biologists, microbiologists, physiologists, and neurochemists.

A major advance in the biological sciences in the past decade has been the biochemical identification of cell membrane receptors. The existence of re ceptor substances on the surface of cells that recognize and bind to extracellular molecules was proposed at the beginning of the century by the pharmacologist and immunologist Paul Ehrlich and the physiologist J. N. Langley. Since then, receptors have been found to play an important role in numerous physiological and pathological processes. Over the years many attempts have been made to physically isolate and chemically characterize receptors, but because of the receptors' extremely low concentration and membrane localization, these ef forts have met with limited success. Yet, despite the failure to characterize receptor substances, the concept of the presence of such molecules has had considerable heuristic value. Using pharmacological, physiological, and im munologic approaches, researchers have identified several specific receptors, e. g. , a-and ~-adrenergic, nicotinic and muscarinic cholinergic, and histami nergic. With the characterization of various types of receptors on cell mem branes, many drugs were developed that proved to be experimentally and ther apeutically useful. It was only in the early 1970s that methods for the specific measurement, chemical characterization, and physical isolation of cell membrane receptors were developed. These advances were made possible by the availability of ligands with high specific radioactivity that retained their biological activity and of experimental procedures that differentiated between specific and non specific binding of ligands.

Rapid advances in knowledge have led to an increasing interest in neuro biology over the last several years. These advances have been made possible, at least in part, by the use of increasingly sophisticated methodology. Furthermore, research in the most rapidly advancing areas is essentially multidisciplinary and is characterized by contributions from many investi gators employing a variety of techniques. While a grasp of fundamental neurobiological concepts is an obvious prerequisite for those who wish to follow or participate in this field, critical awareness and evaluation of neurobiological research also requires an understanding of sophisticated methodologies. The objective of Methods in Neurobiology is the development of such critical abilities. The reader is exposed to the basic concepts, principles, and instrumentation of key methodologies, and the application of each meth odology is placed in the special context of neurobiological research. The reader will gain familiarity with the terminology and procedures of each method and the ability to evaluate results in light of the particular features of neurobiological preparations and applications.

Biochemistry of Characterised Neurons provides a report on the progress made in the analysis of the biology of specific neurons in the central nervous system. This book emphasizes the biochemical, morphological, and functional aspects of characterized neurons, including ways and sophisticated techniques of isolating them. This publication is divided into 11 chapters. The first chapter evaluates the relevance of working with single neurons. Chapters 2 to 6 discuss specific, characterized, invertebrate neurons containing one of the putative neurotransmitter substances. Chapter 7 deals with the biochemistry of a unique vertebrate (Torpedo) cholinergic system that enables pure cholinergic neuronal cell bodies and endings to be analyzed separately. The sensitive radiochemical procedures used to analyze transmitter substances and transmitter enzymes, and how they can be adapted to map the distribution of transmitters in individual neurons of Aplysia, are discussed in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 describes methods for the analysis of specific cells in the retina, while Chapters 10 and 11 focus on the analysis of proteins within defined neurons. This text is beneficial to biochemists and students interested in analyzing neurons.