Problems of the Biochemistry of the Nervous System

Problems of the Biochemistry of the Nervous System is a collection of papers presented at the Second Conference on the “Biochemistry of the Nervous System”, organized by the Institute of Biochemistry of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences on February 12-16, 1957. The contributors consider particularly Soviet’s considerable research works in the field of functional biochemistry and the dynamic aspects of the biochemistry of the central nervous system. This text is organized into 11 parts encompassing 33 chapters, and begins with reviews on proteins and their metabolism in the brain and peripheral nerves; the effect of functional states such as excitation and inhibition upon them; and the changes occurring in their metabolism during growth. The succeeding parts contain articles about phosphorus-containing substances and methods of their investigation. These topics are followed by discussion of the chemical nature of a brain glycogen and its different fractions; carbohydrate metabolism during excitation and inhibition; and the adrenaline metabolism. Other parts tackle the ammonia metabolism, the developmental biochemistry of the brain, and the histochemical approach to study nucleoproteins of the neurons. The remaining parts deal with hypothermia and the cerebral metabolism in some pathological conditions. This book will prove useful to biochemists, biologists, and neurologists.