Neurotransmitters And Anterior Pituitary Function

Book excerpt: Neurotransmitters and Anterior Pituitary Function discusses research findings on neurotransmitter-neurohormone interactions in the control of the anterior pituitary. This book contains five chapters that specifically tackle the most salient constituents of the neural-endocrine communication system in mammals. This book deals first with the biochemistry, physiology, and pharmacology of proved or putative neurotransmitters, as well as some of the techniques used for determining their synthesis or turnover in the central nervous system (CNS) of experimental animals or in man. These topics are followed by a discussion on the principal functions of the most well-known neurotransmitter containing neurons based on sophisticated techniques for neurotransmitter measurements. A chapter highlights both traditional and a vast series of developed drugs that affect both neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine function. Discussions then shift to the experimental evidence on pituitary function control by the brain through releasing and inhibiting hormones secreted by hypothalamic neuroendocrine cells; the chemical isolation, identification, and synthesis of hypothalamic neurohormones; and concepts of their mechanism of action at the level of the pituitary cells. This text further explores the role of specific brain neurotransmitters in controlling pituitary hormone secretions in both experimental animals and in man and the possible CNS site(s) where neurotransmitters and neurohormones interact for the control of anterior pituitary secretion. The concluding chapter describes the actual or potential application of neuropharmacologic approaches to the diagnosis of and therapy for specific disorders of neuroendocrine function. Clinical neuroendocrinologists and researchers and students in neuroendocrinology, neurobiology, neuropharmacology, neurophysiology, and psychiatry will find this book invaluable.