Thursday, 12 September 2013

Ions in the Brain: Normal Function, Seizures, and Stroke

Neuroscience research has come to a paradoxical stage. During the past century and a half, we have learned a great deal about the elementary processes that govern the functioning of individual neurons and glial cells and of the junctions that connect them. Yet, we must admit that we have no solid theory, not even a conceptual framework, of the workings of the system as a whole. The paradox lies in the fact that, in spite of our bafflement and frustrating inability to understand its normal operation, we have gained considerable insight into the ways in which cerebral function can go wrong. This, the mechanisms of some of the most severe afflictions that can befall the brain, is a main topic of this volume. In this matter, the pathophysiology of the brain, we might say that a major chapter has just been completed, at least in outline, while the next one is just beginning to be written. We have a good understanding of the way in which cells and groups of cells behave when seized by epileptic fits and of what happens, on a  microscopic scale, when brain cells are deprived of oxygen. We have been able to observe the tides of ions flowing into and out of cells, and we have learned how ion fluxes feed back on the ion channels through which they pass. This is the part that is more or less complete, save some missing details, and it is the main topic of this book. The next chapter, dealing with molecular and submolecular processes, which is still in an incipient stage, is touched on but not reviewed in detail.

The emphasis in the book is on advances made in the past few decades, without neglecting the road by which we have arrived at the present stage of knowledge. A true historical survey cannot be accommodated in this small volume, but each major topic is introduced by highlighting the historical background, casting a backward glance at the origins and the evolution of current ideas. Each chapter concludes with a selection of the major theses developed on the preceding pages. As the reference section attests, the literature is enormous.


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