Humana In Vitro Neurochemical Techniques: 34 (Neuromethods, 34)

In Vitro Neurochemical Techniques is one of three volumes that rep- sent an update of the original Volume 1 of Neuromefkods, General Neu- chemical Techniques The expansion to three volumes was necessitated by the rapidly increasing number of techniques being used by neuroscrentists and the general tendency of neuroscience research to become more multidisciplrnary and collaborative in recent years. The two companion volumes are concerned primarily with In Vwo Neurometkods in one case, and with Cell Neurobiology Techniques in the other case. Even with three volumes, the coverage of General Neuvometkods is obviously not exhaustive. We have attempted to cover those techniques that seem particularly popular in multidisciplinary neuroscience research. Though some important techniques may have been omitted, we believe that most of these have been covered in detail in other recent volumes of Neurometkods or will be the subjects of upcommg volumes The editors anticipate that these volumes will prove unusually useful to neuroscientists across a wide range of fields-e.g., neurochemistry, neuropsychopharmacology, neurology, psychiatry, and neuroanatomy. Each chapter has been written by well-known neuroscientists with - tive research programs. Experienced researchers in the specific areas treated will appreciate the present updates on those topics, and neuros- entists expecting their research programs to become more multidisciplinary or to expand into new areas of research should find these volumes of enormous value, particularly those sections offering protocols with u- ful hints about the advantages and potential pitfalls of a particular te- nique. From the Back Cover In Vitro Neurochemical Techniques is the third work updating and expanding the best-selling inaugural volume of Humana Press's warmly received Neuromethods series, General Neurochemical Techniques (vol. 1). The key techniques detailed in this new edition encompass the breadth of neurochemical and molecular neurobiology research, ranging from the isolation of neuronal genes and the study of their expression to the analysis of receptor-ligand interactions, to the characterization of the consequences of receptor activation. The methods include electrophysiological techniques to explore the functional properties of receptors present in the membranes of excitable cells, methods to isolate novel genes central to neurobiological processes, and protocols to perform in situ hybridization histochemistry. Other methods cover the measurement of changes in gene expression, the rapid identification of gene polymorphisms, and the identification and characterization of second messenger pathways. The companion volumes, In Vivo Neuromethods and Cell Neurobiology Techniques, cover both in vivo methods and in vitro cell neurobiology approaches. Like the original, all three cutting-edge works will prove exceptionally useful to those basic and clinical neuroscientists who want to expand the range of their current research or develop competence in complementary methods.