Morphology Of Hypothalamus And Its Connections (current Topics In Neuroendocrinology)

The most prominent function of the central nervous system is the control of motor functions by rapidly transmitted impulses through efferent cranial and spinal peripheral nerves. Besides electrically transmitted neural impulses, humoral mechanisms with more sustained actions are exercised by the brain and spinal cord to regulate body homeostasis. Thus, the brain may be regarded as an'endocrine gland'discharging neurohormones (peptides) either into the general circulation (neurohypophyseal hormones) or into the hypothalamo-adenohypophyseal portal circulation (releasing and inhibiting hormones). The brain, therefore, which is protected by the blood-brain barrier from disturbing and potentially noxious exogenous and endogenous agents circulating in the blood, has to have certain neurohemal regions beyond this barrier, such as the neural lobe and the median eminence (infundibulum), where neurohor­ mones have free access to the blood stream. To regulate somatic and autonomic functions in the best possible way, the central nervous system is highly dependent on feedback signals conveyed through somatic and visceral afferent nerves as well as on peripheral humoral signals such as peripheral hormones and other circulating substances that are under homeostatic regulation, e. g., peptides, arnines, electrolytes, and other biologically active agents. In this chapter, the role of the blood-brain barrier in the regulation of these sub­ stances will be discussed with special emphasis on the access through the blood-brain barrier to cardiovascular centers. 2 The Blood-Brain Barrier 2. There is no doubt that a major problem of present day research workers, especially in the life sciences, is the plethora of publications of all kinds, abstracts, short communications, full papers in journals of varying quality, reviews and proceedings of symposia with, in addition, an unprecedented duplication of publications. Even for experts working in the field, it is almost impossible to keep an up-to-date view of all current research articles. The Western grant and career system encourages scientists to publish as much as possible. The editors and publishers of our new series are convinced that the format of Current Topics in Neuroendocrinology leads a way out of this confusion. Each volume is conceived as a concise up-to-date textbook on one well-defined and currently exciting subject. Different from classic textbooks, however, the speed of publication compares favorably with that of many journals; this ensures an immediacy which is im­ possible in textbooks. On the other hand, topics to be included in this series are also sufficiently reliable, with enough work being done to treat them from several aspects. Each volume will supply four to six chapfers treating such a broad topic as neuroendocrinology from several points of view, for example, anatomic, electrophysiologic, endocrine and behavioral views. Wh~re clinical data are immediately available, they will be included. No other 36Iles treating the nervous or endocrine systems provides such a coordinated set of chapters on an interesting topic in each volume. Front Matter....Pages I-VI The Pituitary Portal System....Pages 1-47 Functional Ultrastructure of Gonadotropes: a Review....Pages 49-97 Ultrastructure of Anterior Pituitary Cells....Pages 99-134 Catecholamine-Peptide Interactions in the Hypothalamus....Pages 135-160 Neuroendocrine Projections to the Median Eminence....Pages 161-196 Afferents onto Neuroendocrine Cells....Pages 197-222 Interconnectedness of Steroid Hormone-Binding Neurons: Existence and Implications....Pages 223-249 Ultrastructure of Regulatory Neuroendocrine Neurons and Functionally Related Structures....Pages 251-290 Synaptogenesis and Neuronal Plasticity to Gonadal Steroids: Implications for the Development of Sexual Dimorphism in the Neuroendocrine Brain....Pages 291-307 Back Matter....Pages 309-314 0 Behavioral Reaction Effect of Effect of Species Route of Dose of Reference - 0 oxytocin vasopressin treatment oxytocin (mol/animal) p r-' 11 Extinction of active avoidance Facilitation Opposite Rat i. p. 2x 10- SCHULZ et al. (1974, 1976); ~ (bench-jumping) reaction TELEGDY and KovAcs (1979a) 0 12 10- With contributions by Clarke, G.; Lang, R.E.; McKinley, M.J.; Merrick, L.P.; Rascher, W.; Richter, D.; Sofroniew, M.; Unger, T.; Weindl, A. Editors, D. Ganten And D. Pfaff ; Contributors, G. Clarke ... [et Al.]. Includes Bibliographies And Index. Editors, D. Ganten And D. Pfaff ; Contributors, J. Kato ... [et Al.]. Includes Bibliographies And Index.