Author Description

Product description It is widely recognized that the neural basis of brain function can be fully understood only by integrating many disciplines at many levels. Studies of synaptic organization are bringing about a quiet revolution in achieving this goal, as documented by this unique book over the past 30 years. In this fifth edition, the results of the mouse and human genome projects are incorporated for the first time. Molecular biologists interested in functional genomics and proteomics of the brain will find answers here to the critical questions: what are the cell and circuit functions of gene products? Also for the first time, the reader is oriented to supporting neuroscience databases. Among the new advances covered are 2-photon confocal laser microscopy of dendrites and dendritic spines, biochemical analyses, and dual patch and multielectrode recordings, applied together with an increasing range of behavioral and gene-targeting methods. Leading experts in the best understood brain regions bring together the molecular, anatomical, functional, and behavioral data in authoritative integrated accounts. The chapters are organized in the same format, covering the neural elements, synaptic connections, basic circuits, physiology, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, membrane properties, dendritic properties, and with a final section on how the circuits mediate specific behaviors. The uniform framework for each chapter enables the authors to highlight the principles that are common to all regions, as well as the adaptations unique to each, thus serving as a model for understanding the neural basis of behavior. Review From reviews of previous editions: "This is...a reference textbook that has served generations of neuroscientists at all levels of their career for a quarter century. It is like a wise and trusted mentor, who is always there for you...The marvel of the book in all editions is how much information is packed into such a small number of pages, yet it is comprehensible...any college or university instructor who teaches neurobiology ought to read this book, for it provides a depth of knowledge and perspective that cannot be gained from a (bad) strategy of knowing the course textbook cold and staying a few chapters ahead of one's students."-- Contemporary Psychology "The book remains a staple, and should be on the shelf of any serious neuroscientist."-- The Quarterly Review of Biology "By any measure this work is a classic...It will undoubtedly take its place as one of the most significant and comprehensive commentaries of our time on structure and function of nervous tissue."-- Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology "This well-organized volume clearly summarizes knowledge of neuronal interaction in several brain regions and assimilates new findings to the classical view of neuron communication."-- Journal of the American Medical Association About the Author Gordon M. Shepherd, Professor of Neuroscience and Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine.