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Vertebrate Endocrinology represents more than just a treatment of the endocrine system-it integrates hormones with other chemical bioregulatory agents not classically included with the endocrine system. It provides a complete overview of the endocrine system of vertebrates by first emphasizing the mammalian system as the basis of most terminology and understanding of endocrine mechanisms and then applies that to non-mammals. The serious reader will gain both an understanding of the intricate relationships among all of the body systems and their regulation by hormones and other bioregulators, but also a sense of their development through evolutionary time as well as the roles of hormones at different stages of an animal's life cycle. - Includes new full color format includes over 450 full color, completely redrawn image - Features a companion web site hosting all images from the book as PPT slides and .jpeg files - Presents completedly updated and revitalized content with new chapters, such as Endocrine Disrupters and Behavioral Endocrinology - Offers new clinical correlation vignettes throughout
The skin, the body’s largest organ, is strategically located at the interface with the external environment where it detects, integrates and responds to a diverse range of stressors, including solar radiation. It has already been established that the skin is an important peripheral neuroendocrine-immune organ that is closely networked with central regulatory systems. These capabilities contribute to the maintenance of peripheral homeostasis. Specifically, epidermal and dermal cells produce and respond to classical stress neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and hormones, production which is stimulated by ultraviolet radiation (UVR), biological factors (infectious and non-infectious) and other physical and chemical agents. Examples of local biologically active products are cytokines, biogenic amines (catecholamines, histamine, serotonin and N-acetyl-serotonin), melatonin, acetylocholine, neuropeptides including pituitary (proopiomelanocortin-derived ACTH, b-endorphin or MSH peptides, thyroid stimulating hormone) and hypothalamic (corticotropin-releasing factor and related urocortins, thyroid-releasing hormone) hormones, as well as enkephalins and dynorphins, thyroid hormones, steroids (glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, sex hormones, 7-δ steroids), secosteroids, opioids and endocannabinoids. The production of these molecules is hierarchical, organized along the algorithms of classical neuroendocrine axes such as the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA), hypothalamic-thyroid axis (HPT), serotoninergic, melatoninergic, catecholaminergic, cholinergic, steroid/secosteroidogenic, opioid and endocannabinoid systems. Disruptions of these axes or of communication between them may lead to skin and/or systemic diseases. These local neuroendocrine networks also serve to limit the effect of noxious environmental agents to preserve local and consequently global homeostasis. Moreover, the skin-derived factors/systems can also activate cutaneous nerve endings to alert the brain to changes in the epidermal or dermal environments, or alternatively to activate other coordinating centers by direct (spinal cord) neurotransmission without brain involvement. Furthermore, rapid and reciprocal communications between epidermal and dermal and adnexal compartments are also mediated by neurotransmission including antidromic modes of conduction. Lastly, skin cells and the skin as an organ coordinate and/or regulate not only peripheral but also global homeostasis.
The Encyclopedia of the Neuroscience explores all areas of the discipline in its focused entries on a wide variety of topics in neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and other related areas of neuroscience. Each article is written by an expert in that specific domain and peer reviewed by the advisory board before acceptance into the encyclopedia. Each article contains a glossary, introduction, a reference section, and cross-references to other related encyclopedia articles. Written at a level suitable for university undergraduates, the breadth and depth of coverage will appeal beyond undergraduates to professionals and academics in related fields.
With the invitation to edit this volume, I wanted to take the opportunity to assemble reviews on different aspects of circadian clocks and rhythms. Although most c- tributions in this volume focus on mammalian circadian clocks, the historical int- duction and comparative clocks section illustrate the importance of various other organisms in deciphering the mechanisms and principles of circadian biology. Circadian rhythms have been studied for centuries, but only recently, a mole- lar understanding of this process has emerged. This has taken research on circadian clocks from mystic phenomenology to a mechanistic level; chains of molecular events can describe phenomena with remarkable accuracy. Nevertheless, current models of the functioning of circadian clocks are still rudimentary. This is not due to the faultiness of discovered mechanisms, but due to the lack of undiscovered processes involved in contributing to circadian rhythmicity. We know for example, that the general circadian mechanism is not regulated equally in all tissues of m- mals. Hence, a lot still needs to be discovered to get a full understanding of cir- dian rhythms at the systems level. In this respect, technology has advanced at high speed in the last years and provided us with data illustrating the sheer complexity of regulation of physiological processes in organisms. To handle this information, computer aided integration of the results is of utmost importance in order to d- cover novel concepts that ultimately need to be tested experimentally.
Temperature is one facet in the mosaic of physical and biotic factors that describes the niche of an animal. Ofthe physical factors it is ecologically the most important. for it is a factor that is all-pervasive and one that. in most environments. lacks spatial or temporal constancy. Evolution has produced a wide variety of adaptive strategies and tactics to exploit or deal with this variable environmental factor. The ease with which temperature can be measured. and controlled experimentally. together with its widespread influence on the affairs of animals. has understandably led to a large. dispersed literature. In spite of this no recent book provides a comprehensive treatment of the biology of animals in relation to temperature. Our intention in writing this book was to fill that gap. We hope we have provided a modern statement with a critical synthesis of this diverse field. which will be suitable and stimulating for both advanced undergraduate and post graduate students of biology. This book is emphatically not intended as a monographical review. as thermal biology is such a diverse. developed discipline that it could not be encompassed within the confines of a book of this size.
The nervous system is particularly fascinating for many biologists because it controls animal characteristics such as movement, behavior, and coordinated thinking. Invertebrate neurobiology has traditionally been studied in specific model organisms, whilst knowledge of the broad diversity of nervous system architecture and its evolution among metazoan animals has received less attention. This is the first major reference work in the field for 50 years, bringing together many leading evolutionary neurobiologists to review the most recent research on the structure of invertebrate nervous systems and provide a comprehensive and authoritative overview for a new generation of researchers. Presented in full colour throughout, Structure and Evolution of Invertebrate Nervous Systems synthesizes and illustrates the numerous new findings that have been made possible with light and electron microscopy. These include the recent introduction of new molecular and optical techniques such as immunohistochemical staining of neuron-specific antigens and fluorescence in-situ-hybridization, combined with visualization by confocal laser scanning microscopy. New approaches to analysing the structure of the nervous system are also included such as micro-computational tomography, cryo-soft X-ray tomography, and various 3-D visualization techniques. The book follows a systematic and phylogenetic structure, covering a broad range of taxa, interspersed with chapters focusing on selected topics in nervous system functioning which are presented as research highlights and perspectives. This comprehensive reference work will be an essential companion for graduate students and researchers alike in the fields of metazoan neurobiology, morphology, zoology, phylogeny and evolution.
Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy Evolution and Adaptation Second Edition Ann B. Butler and William Hodos The Second Edition of this landmark text presents a broad survey of comparative vertebrate neuroanatomy at the introductory level, representing a unique contribution to the field of evolutionary neurobiology. It has been extensively revised and updated, with substantially improved figures and diagrams that are used generously throughout the text. Through analysis of the variation in brain structure and function between major groups of vertebrates, readers can gain insight into the evolutionary history of the nervous system. The text is divided into three sections: * Introduction to evolution and variation, including a survey of cell structure, embryological development, and anatomical organization of the central nervous system; phylogeny and diversity of brain structures; and an overview of various theories of brain evolution * Systematic, comprehensive survey of comparative neuroanatomy across all major groups of vertebrates * Overview of vertebrate brain evolution, which integrates the complete text, highlights diversity and common themes, broadens perspective by a comparison with brain structure and evolution of invertebrate brains, and considers recent data and theories of the evolutionary origin of the brain in the earliest vertebrates, including a recently proposed model of the origin of the brain in the earliest vertebrates that has received strong support from newly discovered fossil evidence Ample material drawn from the latest research has been integrated into the text and highlighted in special feature boxes, including recent views on homology, cranial nerve organization and evolution, the relatively large and elaborate brains of birds in correlation with their complex cognitive abilities, and the current debate on forebrain evolution across reptiles, birds, and mammals. Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy is geared to upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in neuroanatomy, but anyone interested in the anatomy of the nervous system and how it corresponds to the way that animals function in the world will find this text fascinating.
