Beschreibung
Anyone who has any contact with mental patients, old or young, or their families, or just visits a mental hospital or school for the retarded, is aware of the tremendous suffering caused by malfunctioning of the brain. The func tion of no other organ is so crucial for our everyday life, our proper func tioning, indeed our happiness, and no other illness causes as much anguish to patients or their families as mental illness. It is surprising and sad, therefore, how little effort has been devoted to research in this area; more so because such research is the only hope to ameliorate this suffering, or, to speak in the language of politics or economics, to decrease the enormous sums that we spend on trying to help our patients, with what is must generally be agreed are the most primitive and inadequate methods of treatment. Clearly, since functions of the brain are vital not only in illness, but in health, pathology is not the only area of concern to neurochemists, but it is an area that urgently needs neurochemical contributions. Progress in this field has been slower than in other areas of neurochemistry, and it seems that solutions in this field are very elusive. The reason for this is that the experimental approach is especially difficult in conditions specific for humans, or specific for complex behavior.
Autorenporträt
Inhaltsangabe1 Disorders of Glycogen and Related Macromolecules in the Nervous System.- I. The Normal Metabolism of Glycogen.- II. The Normal Distribution of Glycogen in the Nervous System.- III. Glycogen Deposition in Reactive Astrocytosis.- IV. Glycogen Deposition in Astrocytes after Irradiation.- V. Glycogen Deposition in Astrocytes in Severe Liver Disease.- VI. Glycogen Accumulation in Neurons and Schwann Cells.- VII. Increase of CNS Glycogen by Barbiturates.- VIII. The Effects of Certain Other Drugs and Altered Physiologic States on Glycogen in Cerebral Cortex.- IX. The Effect of Diabetes on CNS Glycogen.- X. Glycogen Storage Disease Involving the CNS: (Type 2 Glycogenosis).- XI. Glycogen Storage in an Unusual Degenerative Disorder.- XII. Polyglucosan Deposits in the Brain in Lafora's Disease.- XIII. Corpora Amylacea in the Nervous System.- XIV. Glycogen Deposits in Hereditary Ataxia of Rabbits.- XV. "Spongy" Change and Its Possible Relationship with Rapid Glycogen Breakdown.- XVI. References.- 2 Neurochemical Aspects of Mucopolysaccharidoses.- I. Introduction.- II. Classical Mucopolysaccharidoses.- A. Hurler-Hunter Syndrome (Mucopolysaccharidoses Types I and II).- B. Syndromes of Sanfilippo, Morquio, Scheié, and Maro-teaux-Lamy (Mucopolysaccharidosis III, IV, V, and VI).- III. Other Diseases Involving Mucopolysaccharide or Glycoprotein Metabolism.- A. GM1-Gangliosidosis.- B. Fucosidosis.- C. Mannosidosis.- D. Austin-Type Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (Total Arylsulfatase Deficiency).- E. Other Disorders.- IV. References.- 3 Lipidoses.- I. Introduction.- II. Neutral Glycolipid Lipidoses.- A. Gaucher's Disease (Glucocerebroside Lipidosis).- B. Fabry's Disease (Ceramide Trihexoside Lipidosis).- C. Related Conditions.- III. Acidic Glycolipid Lipidoses.- A. Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (Sulfatide Lipidosis).- B. Tay-Sachs Disease (GM2-Gangliosidosis).- C. Generalized Gangliosidosis (GM1-Gangliosidosis).- IV. Phospholipid Lipidoses.- A. Niemann-Pick Disease (Sphingomyelin Lipidosis).- V. Conclusions.- VI. References.- 4 Biochemical Aspects of Multiple Sclerosis.- I. Introduction.- II. General Aspects.- A. Possibilities and Limitations of Chemical Research.- B. Concepts of Research.- C. Consequences of Neural Injury on the Biological Functions of the Organism.- III. The Problem of Selective Vulnerability of the Nervous Tissue.- A. Reaction of Tissue to Injurious Agents.- B. Relation of Axons and Myelin Sheath and Their Pathology.- IV. Morpho-Physiological Relations of the Barrier-Transport Pathways in the White Matter and Their Pathology.- V. Edema and Its Consequences.- A. General Aspects.- B. Cellular Reaction in Brain Edema.- C. The Pathogenesis of Demyelination in Brain Edema.- VI. General Outline of Inflammation.- A. Correlations of Local and Systemic Reactions.- B. Participation of the Nervous System in the Inflammatory Reaction.- C. Reaction of Tissue to Primary Cell Damage.- D. The Role of Lysosomes in Tissue Inflammation.- E. Pharmacologically Active Phospholipid Derivatives and Their Possible Role in Inflammation.- F. Microvascular Aspects of Inflammation.- G. Factors Influencing Vascular Permeability.- H. Reaction of the Blood to Injury.- I. Chronic and Reparative Phases of Inflammation.- J. Summary.- VII. Metabolic Aspects of Multiple Sclerosis.- A. Changes in Liver Function.- B. Endocrine Activity in MS.- C. Electrolyte and Oligoelements.- D. Alteration in Carbohydrate Metabolism.- E. Alteration in Lipid Metabolism.- VIII. Concluding Remarks.- IX. References.- 5 Lipid Metabolism in Wallerian Degeneration.- I. Introduction.- II. Nerve Degeneration.- A. Peripheral Nerve.- B. Central Nervous System.- III. Nerve Regeneration.- A. Nerve Cells.- B. Proximal Part of Nerve.- C. Distal Part of Nerve.- IV. Discussion.- A. Connection Between Cellular Events and Lipogenesis in Injured Nerve.- B. Character of Lipogenesis in Degeneration and Regeneration.- C. Decomposition of Myelin Lipids and the Role of Lyso Substances.- V. References.- 6 B
