Etienne-Emile Baulieu - Böcker

The field of endocrinology has exploded in the last 20 years because of advances in molecular and cell biology. This text integrates new knowledge about hormone structure and function with the more classical focus on endocrine physiology and metabolic disorders. The editors have assembled contributions by some of the world's leading endocrine researchers and clinical scientists. The result is an illustrated text that integrates findings from studies of structure, biosynthesis, genetics, metabolism and pathophysiology. Molecular structures of hormones and receptor families growth factors, and related oncogenes are presented. Fertility control, in vitro fertilization, and aging are discussed, as is the role of hormones in related pathophysiologies such as cancer, diabetes, and growth disorders. This text begins with an illustrated introductory chapter by Professor Baulieu that surveys virtually all areas of the subject, from the molecular aspects of hormonal communication between cells to comparative evolutionary endocrinology. Subsequent chapters concentrate on specific hormone systems.Following each chapter, molecular biologists, biochemists and endocrinologists contribute essays on special topics of current research interest. It is written at the level of the beginning graduate student in endocrinology, but should also serve as a useful reference for other scientists interested in endocrine systems and hormonal regulation of cellular function. Many clinicians and trainees should find this book a useful source of information on the relationship of molecular and cellular endocrinology to endocrine pathophysiology and therapeutic intervention.

Etienne-Emile Baulieu, the discoverer of neurosteroids, and a panel of distinguished scientists and clinical researchers exhaustively and critically review all facets of neurosteroids involved in behavior, stress, memory, depression, anxiety, aging of the brain, and neurodegenerative diseases. These contributors illuminate the role of neurosteroids in brain development and plasticity and detail their neuromodulatory influence on GABAA, ionotropic glutamate receptors, acetylcholine receptors, sigma receptors, and calcium channels. Clearly pointing the way toward novel pharmaceutical agents that may be of significant therapeutic value, particularly with regard to aging mental functions, Neurosteroids: A New Regulatory Function in the Nervous System offers neurobiologists, psychiatrists, neurosurgeons, pharmacologists, and geriatricians the first comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of these important bioactive molecules.

Advances in basic biological research have proceeded rapidly in recent years. The fields of molecular genetics and immunology have experienced dramatic breakthroughs, capturing the imagination of both the scientific community and the general public. With less public notice, receptor biology has brought a cascade of new discoveries and insights. The entire science of pharmacology has been virtually rewritten in terms of receptor phenomenology. In particular, the discovery of specific receptors for steroid and protein hormones has been of seminal importance. With this new information, we have advanced our understanding of the mechanism and specifity of hormone action. We can now explain how hormones interact selectively with specific target cells and how hormones alter biochemical events within the target cells. These facts have already impacted on applied problems of clinical medicine, particularly in diagnosis and treatment of cancer and some metabolic diseases. Now, a new and important application of basic receptor biology and chemistry looms ahead. Within a few short years since the discovery of the progesterone receptor, chemists have synthesized molecules with a greater affinity for the receptor than progesterone itself and which, while occupying the receptor, fail to trigger the events which transform a target cell from the unstimulated to the stimulated state. This is the basis of the competitive inhibitory action of the anti-progestational agent, synthesized by the chemists at Roussel Uc1af, Paris, and designated RU 486.

Etienne-Emile Baulieu, the discoverer of neurosteroids, and a panel of distinguished scientists and clinical researchers exhaustively and critically review all facets of neurosteroids involved in behavior, stress, memory, depression, anxiety, aging of the brain, and neurodegenerative diseases. These contributors illuminate the role of neurosteroids in brain development and plasticity and detail their neuromodulatory influence on GABAA, ionotropic glutamate receptors, acetylcholine receptors, sigma receptors, and calcium channels. Clearly pointing the way toward novel pharmaceutical agents that may be of significant therapeutic value, particularly with regard to aging mental functions, Neurosteroids: A New Regulatory Function in the Nervous System offers neurobiologists, psychiatrists, neurosurgeons, pharmacologists, and geriatricians the first comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of these important bioactive molecules.