Bücher der Reihe SpringerBriefs in Neuroscience

Anxiety disorders have long been a research subject for scientists in different areas of inquiry, and the particular role of serotonin ¿ the neurotransmitter which has probably most captured the imagination of laymen and academics alike ¿ is as elusive as the clinical aspects of serotonergic medications. Why are drugs acting at certain serotonin receptors efficacious against generalized anxiety disorder, but not panic disorder? Why is the inverse true for monoamine oxidase inhibitors? These clinically relevant issues are clarified by the neurochemical, anatomical and physiological organization of the serotonergic system.In this book, the author summarizes the latest findings regarding the role of serotonin in modulating the activity of brain regions which organize behavioral patterns associated with fear, anxiety and stress. The emergent picture is one of far greater complexity than previously thought: while the serotonergic innervation of those brain regions arises from the same structure ¿ the dorsal raphe nucleus ¿ that structure is not homogeneous from anatomical, physiological and neurochemical points of view, nor are its projections to the cerebral aversive and behavioral inhibition systems.The diverse findings which compose this picture of complexity ¿ whether they arise from developmental neurobiology, electrophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroendocrinology, neuropsychopharmacology or behavioral neuroscience ¿ are integrated in this book. Advanced undergraduate, graduate students, and researchers will benefit from the information. The result sheds light on many important questions regarding the neuroanatomical, pharmacological and functional aspects of the role of serotonin in anxiety disorders, and points to future avenues of research.

Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS and disturbances in glutamate transport contribute to a number of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders. Appropriate levels of cholesterol are very important for the proper functioning of glutamate transport while unbalanced levels of cholesterol have been implicated in the pathogenesis of disorders such as stroke, ischemia, traumatic brain injury, and neurotoxicity. In the proposed book, the author presents data from the literature and from her own lab to address the extent to and way in which membrane cholesterol modulates presynaptic glutamate transport and whether lowering the level of cholesterol available can offer some neuroprotective benefits.

While steroids from the periphery have profound effects on the nervous system, the nervous system also produces its own steroids de novo ("e;neurosteroids"e;). The physiological importance of neurosteroids is beginning to be understood. These steroids potentially have roles in sedative/hypnotic behavior, anxiety, learning, and memory. At the cellular level, neurosteroids affect neuronal excitability, synaptic plasticity and cell proliferation and survival. Early findings hold promise for future strategies to treat specific psychologicalconditions and neurological diseases. This Brief will focus on the current state of understanding of brainderived neurosteroids.

This book gives an overview of various interactomes involved in dorsal ventral (DV) and anterior posterior (AP) guidance, their mechanisms of action, subcellular localizations, and functional roles.

This book calls basic assumptions, prominent theories, commonly used test methods and even the phrase executive functioning into question. It places new emphasis on stimulus processing and on the relationship between movement and thought.

ADHD as a Model of Brain-Behavior Relationships

This book discusses the various methods to reprogram cells, the control and determination of cell identity, the epigenetic models that have emerged and the application of iPS cell therapy for brain diseases, in particular Parkinson's disease and Vanishing White Matter (VWM).