The Neuromodulators (International Review of Neurobiology) (International Review of Neurobiology)

I bought this book on Amazon to brush up on my knowledge of neuromodulators, their mechanisms of action, and their functional role in cortical circuits. This book looked to fit the bill, and the table of contents seemed right on target. Unfortunately, the reality is that this book was a terrible book. First, the book is poorly written. The author has simply gone through medline and searched for ever article written in the past 10 years with "acetylcholine" or "serotonin" as a keyword. Then he has reduced the abstract into one sentence, and strung that sentence in with many others with very little if any congruency of message. Plus, because the actual papers were obvioulsy not read, the meaning imparted in the book is OFTEN inaccurate. Just pick a citation, download the actual document, and compare to the text of this book and you will see that this book not only is light on the details, but is often WRONG about the details. Plus, the haphazard writing style makes it a very slow and difficult read. Another problem is that older papers are simply ignored, even if they are still today the best demonstration of something. There are some "classic" yet still relevant papers that should have been cited but were not. As you can tell, I'm quite disappointed with this book. I would suggest one of the other books on the subject (perhaps one by Trevor Stone), but I spent all the cash I have on this book and will have to wait for next year to try again. Glutamate and GABA are the main information carrying neurotransmitters in the brain. Their action is modulated by a further series of small molecules called neuromodulators. The major neuromodulators in the brain are acetylcholine (both muscarinic and nicotinic), dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine and serotonin. These have an enormous range of functions in a wide variety of brain mechanisms. This book attempts to give a general overview of this field with a section devoted to each of these. Each section starts with anatomy, both structural and functional. The various types of receptors for these agents are described and then the effects of stimulating these receptors. These receptors trigger a variety of electrical reactions that generally involve potassium, sodium or calcium channels. Also reviewed are other receptors that trigger a wide variety of post-synaptic signaling cascades that influence a large number of neuronal functions including receptor sensitivity, synaptic plasticity and gene manipulation. Finally the relevance of these systems to disease states is detailed. There are many reviews of individual neuromodulators but this is the only book where one author attempts to cover the whole field. Glutamate and GABA are the main information carrying neurotransmitters in the brain. Their action is modulated by a further series of small molecules called neuromodulators. The major neuromodulators in the brain are acetylcholine (both muscarinic and nicotinic), dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine and serotonin. These have an enormous range of functions in a wide variety of brain mechanisms. This book attempts to give a general overview of this field with a section devoted to each of these. Each section starts with anatomy, both structural and functional. The various types of receptors for these agents are described and then the effects of stimulating these receptors. These receptors trigger a variety of electrical reactions that generally involve potassium, sodium or calcium channels. Other receptors trigger a wide variety of post-synaptic signalling cascades that influence a large number of neuronal functions including receptor sensitivity, synaptic plasticity and gene manipulation. These are all reviewed. Finally the relevance of these systems to disease states is detailed. There are many reviews of individual neuromodulators but this is the only book where one author attempts to cover the whole field. Content: Section I. The Cholinergic System Review Article Pages 1-122 John Smythies Section II. The Dopamine System Review Article Pages 123-172 John Smythies Section III. The Norepinephrine System Review Article Pages 173-211 John Smythies Section IV. The Adrenaline System Review Article Pages 213-215 John Smythies Section V. Serotonin System Review Article Pages 217-268 John Smythies Section VI. Conclusion Review Article Pages 269-271 John Smythies Series Editors Page ii Preface Page vii Ludwig Brand, Michael L. Johnson Possibly Obscure Acronyms for Some Readers Page 273 Index Pages 275-285 Contents Pages v-vi The cholinergic system in most of the brain consists of cell bodies located in groups in the basal forebrain and midbrain.