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Neurobiological mechanisms of adaptation and behaviour
866
Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1977, 4 2 : 8 6 6 - - 8 6 7 © Elsevier/North-Holland Scientific Publishers, Ltd.
BOOK REVIEWS
edited by H. P E T S C H E and J O H N R. H U G H E S Neurobiological Mechanisms o f Adaptation and Behaviour. -- Arnold B. Mandell (Ed.), Advances in Biochemical Psychopharmacology, Vol. 13. (North Holland Publ., Amsterdam, 1975, 300 p., Dfl. 51,00, $ 21,25).
The studies in this volume reflect the state in basic and clinical psychopharmacology, with special reference to repeated drug administration and to such phenomena as the latency of the effect of psychotropic agents, the tolerance and withdrawal syndromes associated with drug abuse. The articles range from the elucidation of macromolecular mechanisms to the correlation of biochemical variables with human psychological states. In the first chapter, "Adaptive mechanisms and biological psychiatry", Mandell presents new data in the field of neurobiological mechanisms of presynaptic metabolic adaptation. In the conclusion of the chapter the author expresses a notion which also repeatedly pervades other studies in the volume, i.e. that treatment with neuroleptics, thymoleptics and lithium may, de facto, induce tolerance mechanisms. In our opinion, the most significant data were presented by Giblin who repeatedly administered 5-HTP to mice and observed the gradually declining reaction to otherwise constant levels of brain 5-HT. They concluded that this adaptation occurs in normal organisms; incapability of adaptation may be the reason for pathological states. Maas and Garver demonstrated that different components of behaviour are mediated by different amine systems. In the second chapter, "Neurotransmitter regulation", W. Lowenberg et al. deal with the molecular properties and regulation of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase and Kirshner explores the functional organization of adrenal chromaffin vesicles. Kuczenski studies the conformational adaptability of tyrosine hydroxylase (TOH) in the regulation of striatal dopamine biosynthesis. The contribution of Kaufmann is also concerned with the problem of TOH. The chapter as a whole thus provides an insight into the intimate biochemical mechanisms of transmitter regulation and helps the reader to get acquainted with the most pressing problems in this field. The third chapter, "The effects of neuropharmacological agents", by Schildkraut aims at investigating the dynamics of [3H]NE in the rat brain.~ Knapp
found that an application of amphetamine in rats leads to depression of the synaptosomal de novo formation of 5-HT but, on the other hand, to an increased firing rate of neurons in the midbrain raphe nuclei. Way et al. review the general theories of morphine dependence and their model experiments on mice and rats indicate that medial mesodiencephalic and extrapyramidal sites are primarily involved in this dependence. In the last chapter, "Adaptive changes in behavioral biology", Stolk et al. describe the development of a procedure "for estimating brain dopamine-betahydroxylase (DBH) activity in vivo. Their results are significant with respect to the general stress theory. The results of experiments reported in the following two studies are somewhat contradictory: Segal demonstrates that the learning factor is not the intervening variable which could account for the increasing behavioral effect of a recurrent application of D-amphetamine; on the other hand, Rech et al., who investigated the same problem, arrive at an opposite conclusion. In the last study of the volume, Bridger deals with interindividual effects of halucinogens on rats. In good performers with stable high avoidance rates mescaline has a dose-dependent inhibitory effect and in poor performers a dose-dependent excitatory effect. The author quotes data from the literature which document that the poor learners (Zink--Miller rats) have a significantly higher serotonin turnover than the good performers (F 344 rats). These data and other electrophysiological findings lead the author to the justified conclusion that the serotonergic neural system may participate in this bimodal effect of halucinogens. The arrangement of the collection has hardly any flaws; its structure has been selected with great care and insight. It provides detailed information about one of the most lively problems of pharmacology. V. GOLDA and R. PETR Neurosurgical Clinic and Dept. of Experimental Neurosurgery, Hradec Knilov~ (CSSR)
Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1977, 4 2 : 8 6 6 - - 8 6 7 © Elsevier/North-Holland Scientific Publishers, Ltd.
BOOK REVIEWS
edited by H. P E T S C H E and J O H N R. H U G H E S Neurobiological Mechanisms o f Adaptation and Behaviour. -- Arnold B. Mandell (Ed.), Advances in Biochemical Psychopharmacology, Vol. 13. (North Holland Publ., Amsterdam, 1975, 300 p., Dfl. 51,00, $ 21,25).
The studies in this volume reflect the state in basic and clinical psychopharmacology, with special reference to repeated drug administration and to such phenomena as the latency of the effect of psychotropic agents, the tolerance and withdrawal syndromes associated with drug abuse. The articles range from the elucidation of macromolecular mechanisms to the correlation of biochemical variables with human psychological states. In the first chapter, "Adaptive mechanisms and biological psychiatry", Mandell presents new data in the field of neurobiological mechanisms of presynaptic metabolic adaptation. In the conclusion of the chapter the author expresses a notion which also repeatedly pervades other studies in the volume, i.e. that treatment with neuroleptics, thymoleptics and lithium may, de facto, induce tolerance mechanisms. In our opinion, the most significant data were presented by Giblin who repeatedly administered 5-HTP to mice and observed the gradually declining reaction to otherwise constant levels of brain 5-HT. They concluded that this adaptation occurs in normal organisms; incapability of adaptation may be the reason for pathological states. Maas and Garver demonstrated that different components of behaviour are mediated by different amine systems. In the second chapter, "Neurotransmitter regulation", W. Lowenberg et al. deal with the molecular properties and regulation of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase and Kirshner explores the functional organization of adrenal chromaffin vesicles. Kuczenski studies the conformational adaptability of tyrosine hydroxylase (TOH) in the regulation of striatal dopamine biosynthesis. The contribution of Kaufmann is also concerned with the problem of TOH. The chapter as a whole thus provides an insight into the intimate biochemical mechanisms of transmitter regulation and helps the reader to get acquainted with the most pressing problems in this field. The third chapter, "The effects of neuropharmacological agents", by Schildkraut aims at investigating the dynamics of [3H]NE in the rat brain.~ Knapp
found that an application of amphetamine in rats leads to depression of the synaptosomal de novo formation of 5-HT but, on the other hand, to an increased firing rate of neurons in the midbrain raphe nuclei. Way et al. review the general theories of morphine dependence and their model experiments on mice and rats indicate that medial mesodiencephalic and extrapyramidal sites are primarily involved in this dependence. In the last chapter, "Adaptive changes in behavioral biology", Stolk et al. describe the development of a procedure "for estimating brain dopamine-betahydroxylase (DBH) activity in vivo. Their results are significant with respect to the general stress theory. The results of experiments reported in the following two studies are somewhat contradictory: Segal demonstrates that the learning factor is not the intervening variable which could account for the increasing behavioral effect of a recurrent application of D-amphetamine; on the other hand, Rech et al., who investigated the same problem, arrive at an opposite conclusion. In the last study of the volume, Bridger deals with interindividual effects of halucinogens on rats. In good performers with stable high avoidance rates mescaline has a dose-dependent inhibitory effect and in poor performers a dose-dependent excitatory effect. The author quotes data from the literature which document that the poor learners (Zink--Miller rats) have a significantly higher serotonin turnover than the good performers (F 344 rats). These data and other electrophysiological findings lead the author to the justified conclusion that the serotonergic neural system may participate in this bimodal effect of halucinogens. The arrangement of the collection has hardly any flaws; its structure has been selected with great care and insight. It provides detailed information about one of the most lively problems of pharmacology. V. GOLDA and R. PETR Neurosurgical Clinic and Dept. of Experimental Neurosurgery, Hradec Knilov~ (CSSR)