Biogenic Amines and Drug Action in the Nervous System of Various Vertebrate Classes

Abstract

Publisher Summary The problem of the functional significance of catecholamines and serotonin in the brain has stimulated considerable research in recent years, and has led to the view that norepinephrine and serotonin might be neurohormoces of the functionally opposing systems postulated by Hess. Considerable research is also being carried out on the nature of the biophysical units at nerve endings, which synthesize, store, and release the biogenic amines. The understanding of these processes might be enhanced by comparative studies of the amines in the nervous system of the various vertebrate classes. Reports have appeared on the distribution of serotonin in the nervous system of various vertebrates, as well as on the distribution of catecholamines. As far as it is known, however, a phylogenetic comparison of the two brain amines has not been published. Recently, on a study of the formatioil, storage and release of the amines has been embarked to see whether these processes in the nerve endings of lower vertebrates are basically similar to those in mammals. The present chapter reports the findings to date.