Molecular and Cellular Physiology of Neurons - Hardcover

Fain, Gordon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674581555 ISBN 13: 9780674581555

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1999

Synopsis

In order to understand the brain, you must understand how the individual molecules and cells of the nervous system function and ultimately contribute to human behaviour. This text is an account of what is known about the functioning of the brain at the level of molecules and cells. It takes readers from the fundamentals to the most sophisticated concepts and latest discoveries: from membrane potentials to experiments on lotage-gatred ion channels; from descriptions of receptors, G proteins, effector molecules, and secondary messengers to an account of understanding of long-term potential. In each chapter, Gordon Fain discusses individual experiments that have made important contributions to knowledge and that illustrate the techniques and approaches that have formed present views of nerve cell function.

About this title

Review:

What is so wonderful about this book is the way Fain has removed [the] dichotomy [between molecular and cellular biology] by interweaving cellular and molecular studies into a seamless discussion of how neurons work. The sense of unity is further nurtured by redrawing original data from numerous classic papers to conform to common display formats, aided by many helpful illustrations by the author's wife...An excellent work.--D. M. Senseman "Choice "

Fain is an expert on the physiology of vision, and has based his book on lectures he gave to advanced undergraduates and postgraduates at the University of California at Los Angeles. As someone who has struggled for 25 years to get similar ideas on neural signaling across to my students, I know this will be a joy to use in teaching. Fain explains complex concepts with exquisite clarity.--David Wallis "New Scientist "

The choice of topics has the liveliness that reflects the day-to-day enthusiasms of a subject in its prime. Here are topics that are difficult to integrate completely under one banner because the molecular mechanisms neurons use to signal are genuinely so diverse I find Fain's approach remarkably refreshing.--Jonathan Ashmore "Trends in Neuroscience "

A beautifully written book for the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate student. Fain explains complex concepts exquisitely and clearly. This handsome volume will be a joy to teach from.--John Dowling, Harvard University

Every student of the brain needs to understand how the electrical events that underlie neural signaling are generated. With the publication of Gordon Fain's book, we now have a place to turn for a clear and thorough exposition of the origin of action potentials and synaptic signals. Fain's unique contribution is to integrate seamlessly the new and the old. His serious treatment of classical experiments reflects the rigor of the masters that founded this field: Katz, Hodgkin and Huxley. At the same time, Fain brings us up to date on the more recent single-channel and molecular work that has identified the properties of the individual proteins that generate neural signals.--John Lisman, Brandeis University

From the Back Cover:

If we are to understand the brain, we must understand how the individual molecules and cells of the nervous system function and ultimately contribute to our behavior. Molecular and Cellular Physiology of Neurons provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of what we now know -- and what we want to know and can reasonably expect to discover in the near future -- about the functioning of the brain at the level of molecules and cells.

Gordon Fain takes readers from the fundamentals to the most sophisticated concepts and latest discoveries: from membrane potentials to recent experiments on voltage-gated ion channels, from descriptions of receptors, G proteins, effector molecules, and secondary messengers to an account of our current understanding of long-term potentiation.

In each chapter Fain discusses individual experiments that have made crucial contributions to our knowledge and that illustrate the techniques and approaches that have formed our present view of nerve-cell function.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0674581555
• ISBN 13: 9780674581555
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 692