Cell Death and Diseases of the Nervous System

I. Definitions Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms.- 1. Apoptosis Versus Necrosis: How Valid a Dichotomy for Neurons?.- 2. Asynchronous Death as a Characteristic Feature of Apoptosis.- 3. Free Radicals and Mitochondria Dysfunction in Excitotoxicity and Neurodegenerative Disease.- 4. Calcium and Cell Death.- 5. Proteases: Critical Mediators of Apoptosis.- 6. The Cell Cycle and Neuronal Cell Death.- II. Animal Models.- 7. Neuronal Cell Death in C. elegans.- 8. Cellular Interactions that Regulate Programmed Cell Death in the Developing Vertebrate Nervous System.- 9. Axotomy-Induced Motor Neuron Death.- 10. Excitotoxic Cell Death.- 11. Neurotoxins and Neuronal Death:An Animal Model of Excitotoxicity.- III. Nerve Cell Death in Human Diseases.- 12. DNA Repair and Neurological Diseases.- 13. Cell Death and the Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathies.- 14. Viral Encephalitis.- 15. Mechanisms of Cell Injury in Prion Diseases.- 16. Blood Flow, Energy Failure, and Vulnerability to Stroke.- 17. Epilepsy and Cell Death.- 18. Trauma to the Nervous System.- 19. Approaches to the Study of Diseases Involving Oligodendroglial Death.- 20. Motor Neuron Disease.- 21. Cerebellar Degenerations.- 22. Parkinson's Disease.- 23. Huntington's Disease and DRPLA: Two Glutamine Repeat Diseases.- 24. Cortical Destruction and Cell Death in Alzheimer's Disease.- 25. HIV-1 Infection of the CNS: Evidence for Apoptosis of Nerve Cells.- 26. Neurotoxicity of Drugs of Abuse.- 27. Schizophrenia.- IV. Approaches in Treating Nerve Cell Death.- 28. Trophic Factors as Therapeutic Agents for Diseases Characterized by Neuronal Death.- 29. Early Experiences with Trophic Factors as Drugs for Neurological Disease: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor for ALS.- 30. Approaches inTreating Nerve Cell Death with Calcium Chelators.- 31. Antiglutamate Therapies for Neurodegenerative Disease: The Case of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.- 32. Antioxidants and the Treatment of Neurological Disease.

" Overall, this is a sound book with well-recognized authors whose expertise spans the field of neurodegenerative disorders. It is a valuable resource for graduate students and for those who have previously limited their focus to a particular neurological disorder...Collectively, the authors paint a sufficiently lucid picture of the sequence of events involved in neurodegenerative processes...Cell Death and Diseases of the Nervous System must be considered to be one of the top books in the rapidly growing literature on neurodegenerative disorders."-Trends in Neuros cience

"This book undertakes an extensive review of the fast moving field of cell death, an area of neurobiology that is currently the center of intensive investigation both at the level of mechanisms and disease pathogenesis....It is thus a book that will interest both neuroscientists and neurologists alike...will be a useful addition to the libraries of neurologists with an interest in neurodegenerative disorders, although other neurological conditions associated with neuronal death are touched on (for example, viral encephalitis, HIV-1 infection, trauma, and schizophrenia) which may widen its appeal.-Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry

"...appeal to a wide spectrum of readers in both the laboratory and clinical setting....The first part on cellular and molecular mechanisms provides a wonderful overview of this difficult matter, ...In part II, a selection of animal models is reviewed, while part III extensively discusses cell death in acute and chronic conditions....This volume broadly covers the field of neuronal death, and the large number of (mostly) up to date references make this a very useful textbook. Being written and edited by authorities in the field, it can be strongly recommended."-Acta Neurologica Belgica