Peter S. Spencer – författare

The first edition of this highly acclaimed reference work was published in 1980. Since then no other book has approached the breadth, scholarship and the balance of this book. For this long-awaited second edition, the original editors have been joined by Albert Ludolph, who brings in expertise in biological neurotoxicology.In the introductory chapters, an overview of the biological basis of neurotoxicity provides the groundwork for discussing the scope of human and veterinary neurotoxic disease. The bulk of the text is devoted to an encyclopaedic treatment of chemicals with neurotoxic potential. This consists of tightly written overviews of the properties, actions and mechanisms of all manner of substances, whether natural or synthetic. The neurotoxic mechanisms of experimental agents and adverse effects of therapeutic and abused drugs are covered extensively. Environmental pollutants, workplace contaminants, personal-use products, food additives and agents harboured by plants, animals and humans for use against their respective enemies are all included. Each substance is rated on a three-point scale for the weight of evidence indicating a specific neurotoxic effect in humans, animals, or laboratory models. These effects are summarised and cross-referenced in a series of appendices and an extensive index.This book will be indispensable to experimental neuroscientists, toxicologists, and practitioners of human and animal medicine. It also provides an authoritative, critical and pithy reference work for public health specialists and those within the legal profession.

This volume addresses some facets of the adverse actions of chemical agents on the central and peripheral nervous systems in developing and mature states. Some of the effects of these chemicals are short-lasting and rapidly reversible; others, especially those that cause structural damage to the nervous system, may result in permanent damage to the organism. The nervous system has several levels of vulnerability to toxic substances. Some substances perturb ion channels or synaptic mechanisms required for the orderly transfer of electrochemical information within the nervous system. Others disrupt sites required for the maintenance of cellular integrity, and these variably result in degenerative responses of neurons and myelinating cells. Further sites of vulnerability include the delicate neural vasculature and neurohumeral mechanisms responsible for physiological homeostasis. The science of neurotoxicology inevitably is a multidisciplinary endeavor, with contributions from biochemistry, physiology, morphology and behavior, to name a few. The challenge is to apply appropriate techniques to investigate neurotoxic phenomena. The first logical step in this analysis is to determine from the point of view of the nervous system the nature of the exposure. Is the chemical a single or multiple entity; is it metabolized; how does it gain access to neural tissue? Once these factors are understood, changes induced by the exposure can be described at various levels from the biochemical to the behavioral.