Central Cholinergic Synaptic Transmission

✍ Scribed by M.-Marsel Mesulam (auth.), Prof.Dr. Michael Frotscher, Priv.-Doz. Dr. Ulrich Misgeld (eds.)

• Publisher: Birkhäuser Basel
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 332
• Series: Experientia Supplementum 57
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Our knowledge of cholinergic synaptic transmission in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) has expanded enormously since the early 1930's, at which time O. Loewi discovered chemical neurotransmission through acetylcholine (ACh) and the pharmacological actions of ACh were described by H. Dale and his colleagues. Description of ACh's actions and receptors in various parts of the brain was followed by a detailed analysis of ACh's synthesis, release mechanism, removal from the synaptic cleft, modes of agonist-receptor interactions, properties of regulated conductances and of the pre-and postsynaptic modulation of cholinergic synapses. Our knowledge has been increasingly consolidat­ ing, leading us to the recent clarification of the structure of the periph­ eral nicotinic receptor-ion channel and its functional properties. It is appropriate to maintain the claim that the fundamentals of our under­ standing of synaptic transmission come from studies on cholinergic synapses in the PNS. Contrastingly, views held on the role of cholinergic synapses in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) are extremely controversial, although it has been clear for some time that ACh is present in the brain. Illustrating this, no unanimous view is held on the role of nicotinic receptors in the CNS. There is one notable exception to this confusion: Studies begun by J. C. Eccles and associates in the 1960's and completed by D. R. Curtis and R. W.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages I-X
Behavioral neuroanatomy of cholinergic innervation in the primate cerebral cortex....Pages 1-11
Afferent connections of the forebrain cholinergic projection neurons, with special reference to monoaminergic and peptidergic fibers....Pages 12-32
Central cholinergic synapses: The septohippocampal system as a model....Pages 33-41
Cholinergic-GABAergic synaptic interconnections in the rat amygdaloid complex: An electron microscopic double immunostaining study....Pages 42-49
Topography of βNGF receptor-positive and AChe-reactive neurons in the central nervous system....Pages 50-58
Chol-1: A cholinergic-specific Gganglioside of possible significance in central nervous system neurochemistry and neuropathology....Pages 59-67
Pharmacological characterization of muscarinic responses in rat hippocampal pyramidal cells....Pages 68-76
Mediation of acetylcholine’s excitatory actions in central neurons....Pages 77-87
Presynaptic cholinergic action in the hippocampus....Pages 88-96
Opposing effects of acetylcholine on the two classes of voltage-dependent calcium channels in hippocampal neurons....Pages 97-103
Muscarinic slow EPSPs in neostriatal and hippocampal neurons in vitro ....Pages 104-113
Carbachol and pirenzepine discriminate effects mediated by two muscarinic receptor subtypes on hippocampal neurons in vitro ....Pages 114-122
Cholinergic activation of medial pontine reticular formation neurons in vitro ....Pages 123-137
Cholinergic responses in human neocortical neurones....Pages 138-149
Cholinergic modulation of hippocampal epileptic activity in vitro ....Pages 150-158
The cholinergic nucleus basalis: A key structure in neocortical arousal....Pages 159-171
Cholinergic mechanisms in the telencephalon of cat and chicken....Pages 172-182
Central nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the chicken and Drosophila CNS: Biochemical and molecular biology approaches....Pages 183-189
Modulation of the sensitivity of nicotinic receptors in autonomic ganglia....Pages 190-196
Muscarinic modulation of acetylcholine release: Receptor subtypes and possible mechanisms....Pages 197-203
Characterization of muscarinic receptors modulating acetylcholine release in the rat neostriatum....Pages 204-211
Distribution of cholinergic receptors in the rat and human neocortex....Pages 212-228
Effects of chronic in vivo replacement of choline with a false cholinergic precursor....Pages 229-235
Development of the septohippocampal projection in vitro ....Pages 236-250
A role of basic fibroblast growth factor for rat septal neurons....Pages 251-258
Survival, growth and function of damaged cholinergic neurons....Pages 259-274
Restoration of cholinergic circuitry in the hippocampus by foetal grafts....Pages 275-287
Effects of colchicine treatment on the cholinergic septohippocampal system....Pages 288-294
Effect of early visual pattern deprivation on development and laminar distribution of cholinergic markers in rat visual cortex....Pages 295-304
The role of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in ocular dominance plasticity....Pages 305-314
Acetylcholine-dopamine balance in striatum: Is it still a target for antiparkinsonian therapy?....Pages 315-321
Back Matter....Pages 322-323

✦ Subjects

Science, general