Abstract
How can we attempt to deal with the complexity of the central nervous system, let alone begin to understand how it functions? The numbers are baffling! The circuitry of this intricate network, comprising billions of cells with more than a thousand times that number of interconnections, suggests a vastly more involved system than any currently known communication structure. Add to this that nerve cells can convey information by synaptic transmission as well as by the secretion of hormone messengers as do other endocrine cells. Add to this the possibility that some of these messengers may act in dual roles as neurotransmitters or neuromodulators. Yet much has already been learned by focusing our consideration of the brain and its workings on specific anatomical regions or at the level of the cell. Even amid the complexity, the use of molecular probes has helped to describe more fully how the living nervous system may operate at the cellular level. Many of the known biologically active agents or hormones are protein in nature and in our study of them to the present we have gained a foothold in the understanding of many types of cells including those in the nervous system. A general observation might be that any expression of biological diversity is a form of flexibility which may lend itself to survival.
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© 1988 Plenum Press, New York
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Chrétien, M., Sikstrom, R.A., Lazure, C., Seidah, N.G. (1988). Neuronal and Endocrine Peptides. In: Avoli, M., Reader, T.A., Dykes, R.W., Gloor, P. (eds) Neurotransmitters and Cortical Function. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0925-3_33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0925-3_33
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