A. Bjorklund - Böcker

This volume is the third and final part of the planned coverage of the neurochemical circuitry of the primate central nervous system. The five chapters included in this volume complement and integrate magnificently with the two prior volumes.

Included in the volume are the following: a two-fold exposition on the human forebrain, comprised of a comprehensive overview of the entire human forebrain, and a specific focus on the basal forebrain (a region critical for a wide range of human problems ranging from substance abuse to Alzheimer's disease), a critical synthesis of the primate basal ganglia (a region under intense scrutiny for the organization of motor programs, and for their dysfunctions in Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and other malfunctions), the chemical and anatomic details of the primate hippocampal formation in extenso, and lastly, a review of the rapidly growing literature on the mesocortical projection of dopaminergic circuits onto the primate frontal cortex ( a system highly linked to higher order mental abstractions, as well as the dysfunctions of schizophrenia).

Scholars will recognize that the laying out of these status reports on our still vastly incomplete examination of the primate brains is an opportunity for progress.

This volume of the Handbook of Chemical Neuroanatomy describes the techniques used to study the connectivity of chemically defined neurons at the cellular level. Among areas dealt with are the most recent developments in light microscopy and electron microscopy, and the applications to specific subjects of chosen combinations of techniques to demonstrate how elegantly and powerfully they can be applied.As the fiber connections of the brain become increasingly accurately mapped, the desire to understand the instrinsic circuits of these populations of neurons, including their morphology, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, receptors and their physiology, will grow. It is this desire for knowledge the authors are attempting to stimulate by presenting a comprehensive technical book on most of the currently used and theoretically possible combinations of anatomical, physiological and immunocytochemical methods for the study of neuronal micricircuits and synaptic interaction. An indispensible guide and "laboratory benchtool".

This volume is the second in the planned coverage of the neurochemical circuitry of the primate central nervous system. While this volume contains only two chapters, their topics and the extraordinarily comprehensive coverage with which the authors have dealt with their topics, will nevertheless contribute equal amounts of knowledge, wisdom, and opportunities for future research extensions as have every volume in this unique series. As such, these chapters extend the goals of this primate series to develop a broad coverage of human and non-human primate chemical neuroanatomic details in a volume which makes clear the known and desirable appreciation for differences between and among subsets of primate brains.The first chapter covers the primate thalamus with equal emphases on new world, old world, pro-simian and human anatomic details and their differences. The second undertakes a comparably comprehensive examination of one of the most intensively studied regions of the primate brain, namely the primate visual cortex. While much has been studied, both chapters also reveal how much remains for future efforts in these enormously important regions which are the archetypes of primate sub-cortical and cortical function.