Thanks to tremendous technical advances in molecular biology and cellular imaging after those in electrophysiology, there is now a deep understanding of the physiology of nerve cells and their synaptic interconnections. The complexity of the brain emerges from the communication and interaction between billions of these elements. This book explores systematically and didactically the details of neuronal physiology, covering membrane biophysics, receptor physiology, sensory transduction and synaptic transmission with its selective pharmacology. Readers of the book will be fully equipped to understand the functions and possibilities of the key units of the brain’s parallel computations.
Detailed Contents
Foreword
Preface
Contributors
1. Signaling in the Brain: An Introductory
Anne Feltz
PART I: ION MOVEMENT IN THE CELL
2. Resting Membrane Potential
Ann Lohof and Danièle Tritsch
3. Ion Gradient Maintenance: Ion Transporters
Stéphane Supplisson and Anne Feltz
4. Voltage-Gated Channels
Anne Feltz
5. The Sodium Action Potential
Ann Lohof and Danièle Tritsch
PART II: FAST AND SLOW NEURONAL SIGNALING
6. Fast Synaptic Transmission: Nicotinic
and GABAergic Transmissions
Anne Feltz
7. G-Protein-Coupled Receptors and Signaling
Cascades
Philippe Deterre and Danièle Tritsch
8. Transduction in Sensory Cells: Fast or Slow
Signaling
Anne Feltz
9. Structural and Functional Properties of Ionotropic
and Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors
Patricia M.G.E. Brown, G. Brent Dawe,
Anne Feltz, and Derek Bowie
PART III: SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION
10. Neurotransmitter Release
Sumiko Mochida
11. Ion-Coupled Neurotransmitter Transporters
Stéphane Supplisson
12. Synaptic Integration
Boris Barbour
13. Synaptic Plasticity
Mariano Casado
PART IV: METHODS
14. Studying Neurons at Work
Anne Feltz
15. Software Resources for Neuroscience Research
Boris Barbour
Annexes
Index
Biography
Anne Feltz is an Emeritus Director of Research at CNRS, IBENS, Institut de Biologie de l’Ecole normale Supérieure, Paris, France
