A. Carlsson – författare

Section on Pharmacology of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (SEPHAR), Proceedings of the Second International Pharmacological Meeting, August 20-23, 1963, Volume 3: Pharmacology of Cholinergic and Adrenergic Transmission focuses on the effects of drugs on muscles, nerve fibers, and the central nervous system. The selection first offers information on the role of sodium ions in the release of acetylcholine and the distribution and release of acetylcholine in muscles. Discussions focus on the effects of sodium deficiency on ACh release in perfused ganglia; effects of sodium pump inhibitors on ganglionic and myoneural transmission; distribution of ACh and choline acetylase in muscle; and ACh release after denervation. The text then ponders on the roles of acetylcholine and acetylcholinesterase in junctional transmission and correlated studies of monoamines and acetylcholinesterase in sympathetic ganglia, manifesting the distribution of adrenergic and cholinergic neurons. The publication examines the action of acetylcholine and related drugs on mammalian nonmyelinated nerve fibers; possible mechanisms of acetylcholine action in muscles; and electrophysiological analysis of cholinergic transmission in sympathetic ganglia. The text then reviews the interactions of cholinomimetic and cholinergic blocking drugs at sympathetic ganglia; evolution of cholinoreceptive sites of locomotor muscle; and pharmacological blocking of central cholinoreactive systems and the possibilities of its therapeutic application. The selection is a dependable source of data for readers interested in the pharmacology of cholinergic and adrenergic transmission.

3 and a fraction mayor may not respond to treatment. On the behavioral level, animal research shows that a variety of experimental conditions can induce de­ pression. The same is true in the field of treatment, where pharmacologically highly different drugs can equally alleviate depression in animals and hu­ mans. The question as to whether this is due to a heterogeneity of depressive subjects based on different pathogenetic mechanisms is open to discussion. We can look for common features of all possible causal factors in the hope of finding a single basic mechanism. Many divergent findings may also be ex­ plained as peripheral changes of a highly complicated dynamic system. In the field of psychopharmacology, a circular reasoning has become evident in the sense that originally the clinical antidepressive response was founded on empirical grounds only. In a second step, an attempt was made to characterize some clinically active compounds pharmacologically, and in a third, further compounds were developed based on aspects of the pharmaco­ logical profiles. Moreover, the post hoc development of a pharmacological screening method has the serious disadvantage of delaying breakthroughs into new fields.

3 and a fraction mayor may not respond to treatment. On the behavioral level, animal research shows that a variety of experimental conditions can induce de­ pression. The same is true in the field of treatment, where pharmacologically highly different drugs can equally alleviate depression in animals and hu­ mans. The question as to whether this is due to a heterogeneity of depressive subjects based on different pathogenetic mechanisms is open to discussion. We can look for common features of all possible causal factors in the hope of finding a single basic mechanism. Many divergent findings may also be ex­ plained as peripheral changes of a highly complicated dynamic system. In the field of psychopharmacology, a circular reasoning has become evident in the sense that originally the clinical antidepressive response was founded on empirical grounds only. In a second step, an attempt was made to characterize some clinically active compounds pharmacologically, and in a third, further compounds were developed based on aspects of the pharmaco­ logical profiles. Moreover, the post hoc development of a pharmacological screening method has the serious disadvantage of delaying breakthroughs into new fields.