Table of Contents

Loss of Spines and Neuropil; Schizophrenia as a Disorder of Neuroplasticity; The Synaptic Pathology of Schizophrenia: Is Aberrant Neurodevelopment and Plasticity to Blame?; Neurochemical Basis for an Epigenetic Vision of Synaptic Organization; Muscarinic Receptors in Schizophrenia - Is There a Role for Synaptic Plasticity?; Serotonin and Brain Development; Presynaptic Proteins and Schizophrenia; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling; Postsynaptic Density Scaffold Proteins at Excitatory Synapse and Disorders of Synaptic Plasticity: Implications for Human Behavior Pathologies; Prostaglandin Mediated Signaling in Schizophrenia; Mitochondria, Synaptic Plasticity, and Schizophrenia; Membrane Phospholipids and Cytokine Interaction in Schizophrenia; Neurotensis, Schizophrenia and Antipsychotic Drug Action; Schizophrenia, Vitamin D and Brain Development; Possible Contributions of Myelin and Oligodendrocyte Dysfunction to Schizophrenia; Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor and the Plasticity of the Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway; S100B in Schizophrenic Psychosis; Oct-6 Transcription Factor; NMDA Receptors, Synaptic Plasticity and Schizophrenia

Promotional Information

* Addresses new areas of research in neurotransmitters, receptors, vitamin transport, metabolism, and signaling.
* Reviews the growing field of synaptic plasticity research
* Provides links with other diseases of the Central Nervous System (CNS)

About the Author

John Smythies is a neuropsychiatrist and neuroscientist and has made significant contributions to both these disciplines. Together with Humphrey Osmond he developed the first biochemical theory of schizophrenia—the transmethylation hypothesis. This has recently come back into focus following the finding that DNA methylation is abnormal in schizophrenia. He has made extensive contributions to knowledge in a number of fields including the neuropharmacology of psychedelic drugs; the functional neuroanatomy of synapses with particular regard to the role of synaptic plasticity, endocytosis and redox factors ; the role in the brain of orthoquinone metabolites of catecholamines; and, in particular, theories of brain-consciousness relations. More recently he has worked on epigenetic processes in information processing in the brain, and the functional neuroanatomy of the claustrum. Smythies has served as President of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology from 1970-1974, Consultant to the World Health Organization from 1963-1968, and Editor of the International Review of Neurobiology from 1958-1991. He was elected a member of the Athenaeum in 1968. He has published over 240 scientific papers and sixteen books. Smythies has held positions as the Charles Byron Ireland Professor of Psychiatric Research at the University of Alabama Medical Center at Birmingham, Visiting Scholar at the Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California San Diego, and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Neurology, University College London.