Neurochemistry of Human Postmortem Brain
The use of human postmortem brain tissue in neurochemical and neuropharmacological research has received increasing attention over recent years. In fact, there is one work that, more than any other, can be identified as being responsible for the interest in this approach. It was Birkmayer and Hornykiewicz who, having observed a deficit in the content of the neurotransmitter dopamine in brain tissue taken postmortem from patients with Parkinson’s disease, set about to counteract this deficit in living patients by treatment with L-dopa. The identification of an abnormally low transmitter concentration and its supplementation by the administration of the appropriate biochemical precursor has revolutionized the treatment of this disease (Ehringer and Hornykiewicz, 1960; Birkmayer and Hornykiewicz, 1961). It has also served to motivate neurochemists to study other neurological and psychiatric diseases using postmortem brain tissue. Such a success story has yet to be repeated. Nevertheless, neurochemical and other molecular approaches to studying the diseased brain have generated a large amount of information that has increased enormously our understanding of the molecular neuropathology and neural dysfunction in these disorders.
- Automated Glass Pipette-Based Patch-Clamp Techniques
- Drug Screening for Benzodiazepines, Antidepressants, and Neuroleptics
- An In Vitro Model of Reactive Astrogliosis and Its Effect on Neuronal Growth
- Assays for the Analysis of Synaptic Proteins in Neurodegenerative Disorders
- Patch-Clamp Recording Methods for Examining Adrenergic Regulation of Potassium Currents in Ocular Epithelial Cells
- Videograms: A Method for Repeatable Unbiased Quantitative Behavioral Analysis Without Scoring or Tracking
- Radioreceptor Assays for Amino Acids and Related Compounds
- Perfusion of Patch Pipets
- Technology of Patch- Clamp Electrodes
- Cellular In Vivo Assay of Calpain Activity Using a Fluorescent Substrate: Application to Study of Anoxic Liver Injury