The Neuronal Environment: Brain Homeostasis In Health And Disease (contemporary Neuroscience)

To function properly, neurons must interact with other constituent elements of the brain (e.g., blood supply and myelin), and in fact most diseases of the nervous system involve these nonneuronal components. In The Neuronal Environment: Brain Homeostasis in Health and Disease, leading neuroscience researchers offer a fresh perspective on neuronal function by examining all its many components-including their pertubation during major disease states-and relate each element to neuronal demands. Topics range from the dependency of neurons on metabolic supply, ion homeostasis, and transmitter homeostasis, to their close interaction with the myelin sheath. Also addressed are the astrocytic signaling system, which controls synaptic transmission, the extracellular matrix and space as communication systems, the role of blood flow regulation in blood-brain barrier function, and inflammation and the neuroimmune system. All these elements are treated in the context of their importance for neurons and the major diseases affecting them. Insightful and integrative, The Neuronal Environment: Brain Homeostasis in Health and Disease demonstrates for today's neuroscientists, cell biologists, and pharmacologists a clear new understanding that neurons do not work in isolation, that they need constant interactions with other brain components to process information, and that they are not the brain's sole information processing system. Front Matter....Pages i-x Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Central Nervous System Microenvironment and Neuronal Excitability....Pages 3-24 Neuronal Energy Requirements....Pages 25-54 Front Matter....Pages 55-55 Plasticity of Extracellular Space....Pages 57-81 Transmitter-Receptor Mismatches in Central Dopamine, Serotonin, and Neuropeptide Systems....Pages 83-108 The Extracellular Matrix in Neural Development, Plasticity, and Regeneration....Pages 109-158 Homeostatic Properties of Astrocytes....Pages 159-185 Glutamate-Mediated Astrocyte-Neuron Communication in Brain Physiology and Pathology....Pages 187-209 Axonal Conduction and Myelin....Pages 211-231 Coupling of Blood Flow to Neuronal Excitability....Pages 233-257 Front Matter....Pages 259-259 Choroid Plexus and the Cerebrospinal-Interstitial Fluid Systems....Pages 261-275 The Blood-Brain Barrier....Pages 277-307 Circumventricular Organs....Pages 309-339 Glial Linings of the Brain....Pages 341-375 Front Matter....Pages 377-377 Microglia in the CNS....Pages 379-400 Invasion of Ischemic Brain by Immune Cells....Pages 401-417 Back Matter....Pages 419-432

Leading neuroscience researchers offer a fresh perspective on neuronal function by examining all its many components-including their pertubation during major disease states-and relate each element to neuronal demands. Topics range from the dependency of neurons on metabolic supply, as well as on both ion and transmitter homeostasis, to their close interaction with the myelin sheath. Also addressed are the astrocytic signaling system that controls synaptic transmission, the extracellular matrix and space as communication systems, the role of blood flow regulation in neuronal demand and in blood-brain barrier function, and inflammation and the neuroimmune system. Insightful and integrative, The Neuronal Environment: Brain Homeostasis in Health and Disease demonstrates a clear new understanding that neurons do not work in isolation, that they need constant interactions with other brain components to process information, and that they are not the only information processing system in the brain.