Bøger af Abel Lajtha

It has been recognized for more than a thousand years that the function of the brain, like the function of the other organs of the body, is determined by its physical, chemical, and biological properties.

If the reader's eventual goal is to derive the "laws" that relate various aspects of animal and human behavior to underlying physiological and biochemical function, these admirable volumes will help him to establish a firm biochemical base from which to operate.

Neurochemical study of the nervous system has, perhaps of necessity, gone through several phases: the first phase was more analytical and in volved study of the composition of the tissue; Perhaps the next phase will be the study of function, the study of the final stage of integration.

Life, either as we think of it in the abstract in its highest sense, or life, as we think of it in terms of a compact living organism, is obviously the result of complex interaction of all of the components of the organism.

This volume is concerned with the enzymes of the nervous system. Countless changes have taken place within them, so that, now, only those enzymes exist that play specific roles in the functions of the living cells of today.

This volume is concerned with the enzymes of the nervous system. Cerebral enzymes form the basis of the functional brain. They are needed for the control of the energetics of the nervous system, whether it be their release or their direction; for the elaboration of transmitters and for their destruction; for the synthesis, transport, and breakdown of all metabolites of the nervous system. They are indispensable for the control of the multitude of factors that govern our thinking and our behavior. They make it possible for us to comprehend what is taking place around us and perhaps to understand what may be in store for us. Enzymes are the stuff of life, and no living cell can be without them. They are the results of many millions of years of evolution, from the time when biological membranes first came into being and were folded to produce the first cells within which the earliest enzymes were wrought. Countless changes have taken place within them, so that, now, only those enzymes exist that play specific roles in the functions of the living cells of today. Those in the nervous system possess a mUltiple role: in the creation, maintenance, and ultimate breakdown of the component cells and in enabling consciousness, perception, memory, and thought to become possible. But though life may go on forever, the enzymes that make life possible will undergo the many changes involved in the evolutionary process.

This volume is concerned with the enzymes of the nervous system. Countless changes have taken place within them, so that, now, only those enzymes exist that play specific roles in the functions of the living cells of today.