Ions in the brain : normal function, seizures, and stroke

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Bibliographic Information

Ions in the brain : normal function, seizures, and stroke

George G. Somjen

Oxford University Press, 2004

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 375-454) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Ions, their transport across membranes, and their flow through specialized ion channels are central to the understanding of brain function, normal and pathological. The first part of this book deals with the regulation of ions in brain extra- and intracellular fluids. Regulation is effected by the blood-brain barrier, and by membrane ion pumps and other transport mechanisms of neurons and glial cells. Normally adjusted for optimal neural function, ion levels can change and alter the excitability of neurons and influence synaptic transmission in healthy and diseased brains. After an introduction to the electrophysiology of epilepsy, and a description of experimental seizure models, the second part discusses the roles of the faulty regulation of ions and of the diseases of ion channels in generating epileptic seizures. The mechanisms of action of various anticonvulsant drugs are also considered. The third part is devoted to the phenomenon of spreading depression and its likely role in human diseases. The final chapters of the book deal with the role of ions in the devastation caused by lack of oxygen and by insufficient blood flow to brain tissue, and the reasons for the exceptional vulnerability of certain classes of central neurons in hypoxia and stroke. The book will be of interest to neuroscientists, neurobiologists, neurophysiologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and to their students and trainees.

Table of Contents

  • PART I: IONS AND WATER IN THE BRAIN
  • 1. The blood-brain barrier
  • 2. The regulation of brain ions
  • 3. Osmotic stress and the brain
  • 4. The influence of ion concentrations on neuron function
  • PART II: CEREBRAL SEIZURES
  • 5. A primer of epileptiform seizures
  • 6. Experimental seizures
  • 7. Electrophysiology of seizures
  • 8. Ions and seizures
  • 9. Solving seizure mechanisms by simulations
  • 10. Seizures, channels, genes
  • 11. Mechanisms of action of antiepileptic drugs
  • PART III: SPREADING DEPRESSION OF LEAO
  • 12. Introduction to spreading depression: Extracellular electric signs
  • 13. Ion fluxes during spreading depression
  • 14. Membrane potential and input resistance during spreading depression
  • 15. The mechanism of spreading depression
  • 16. Solving the puzzle of spreading depression by computer simulation
  • PART IV: PATHOLOGICAL BIOPHYSICS OF CEREBRAL HYPOXIA AND STROKE
  • 17. Hypoxia, asphyxia and ischemia
  • 18. Mechanism of early, reversible hypoxic synaptic failure
  • 19. Irreversible hypoxic (ischemic) neuron injury

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