Throughout his remarkable career, Donald Pfaff has demonstrated that by choosing problems and methods with care, biologists can study the molecular mechanisms of brains more complex than those of fruit flies, snails, roundworms, and other invertebrates. His half century in the lab, starting with his discovery of hormone receptors in the brains of mammals and leading to the first detailed account of a neural circuit for mammalian behavior, puts him in a unique position to survey the origins and development of behavioral neurobiology and the current state of research. How the Vertebrate Brain Regulates Behavior offers a close-up, conversational perspective on scientific struggles and successes throughout a fifty-year quest to understand how behavior is regulated in a complex organism. In graduate school, when Pfaff expressed a desire to study behavioral regulation, his advisor suggested focusing on hormones. Pfaff's investigation into the hormonal basis of female sexual behavior in laboratory rats led him to a comprehensive appreciation of how hormone-dependent neurons work through neural circuits to produce discrete behaviors among all vertebrates. This breakthrough, along with other researchers' findings, established a link between molecular biology and neuroscience that opened up a fruitful new field of inquiry. Pfaff's approach is to focus on one solvable problem and explore it from many angles. He begins with a single observed behavior and traces its regulation through a series of biological mechanisms-from hormones to genes to neural circuits. Pfaff's relentless pursuit of his goals continues to inspire neuroscientists today.

This volume starts with an elementary introduction covering stem cell methodologies used to produce specific types of neurons, possibilities for their therapeutic use, and warnings of technical problems. In addition the authors report successes in achieving the derivation of a specific type of neuron. The dopamine neuron offers an important example and is discussed in more detail. Additional chapters cover problems obviously approachable with cells derived from stem cells, including their need in surgeries for pituitary cancers. The last chapter provides an overview of this particular field of research and presents a vision for its future directions.

This volume starts with an elementary introduction covering stem cell methodologies used to produce specific types of neurons, possibilities for their therapeutic use, and warnings of technical problems. In addition the authors report successes in achieving the derivation of a specific type of neuron. The dopamine neuron offers an important example and is discussed in more detail. Additional chapters cover problems obviously approachable with cells derived from stem cells, including their need in surgeries for pituitary cancers. The last chapter provides an overview of this particular field of research and presents a vision for its future directions.

The subject of this book is reproduction-specifically, the interplay between reproductive physiology (especially neural and endocrine events) and behavior. In presenting this topic, there are two expository goals. The first is to study repro- duction at all of the major levels of biological organization-from the molecular (e. g. , hormone receptors in the brain), through the cellular (e. g. , ovarian morphogene- sis), systemic (e. g. , operation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-ovarian axis), and the organismic levels of organization. Analogously, behavior is treated from the most molecular, elementary, and fundamental components (e. g. , copulatory reflexes), through behavior in the reproductive dyad (e. g. , analysis of female sexual behav- ior), to complex social behavior (e. g. , the interaction of social context and behav- ioral sex differences). To the extent that these levels of biological and behavioral organization rep- resent a "vertical axis" in behavioral neurobiology, a second goal is to treat the "horizontal axis" of biological organization, viz. , time. There are, therefore, treat- ments of evolutionary origins (e. g. , a phylogenetic survey of psychosexual differ- entiation), genetic origins in the individual (e. g. , sexual organogenesis), ontoge- netic development (e. g. , behavioral sexual differentiation), and the immediate physiological precursors of behavior (e. g. , hormonal and nonhormonal initiation of maternal behavior). In addition to tracing the origins of reproduction and reproductive behavior, one extends the time-line from the behavior to its physio- logical consequences (e. g. , neuroendocrine consequences of sexual behavior).

Latest issue in the CURRENT TOPICS IN NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY se- ries which has been gaining a great deal of reputation as a primary source for reviews in neuroendocrinology and related areas in the past few years.

The tridecapeptide neurotensin (NT) was first identified in bovine hypothalamic extracts and characterized by Carraway and Leeman (1973,1975,1976) and has subsequently been found in all classes of vertebrates (Carraway and Leeman 1976; Kitabgi et al. 1976; Kataoka et al. 1979; Langer et al. 1979; Reinecke et al. 1980a; Cooper et al. 1981; Grant et al. 1982; Carraway et al. 1982; Eldred and Karten 1983), many invertebrates (Reinecke et al. 1980 b; Grimmelikhuijzen et al. 1981; Price et al. 1982), and certain bacteria (Bhatnagar and Carraway 1981). It is distributed throughout the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) (Uhl and Snyder 1977 a, b), gastrointestinal tract (Sundler et al. 1977; Schultzberg et al. 1980), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), adrenals, pancreas, and plasma (Fernstrom et al. 1980). When administered systemically, the peptide has a variety of effects such as hypotension, hyperglycemia, decreased gastric acid secretion, decreased gut motility, and altered secretion of anterior pituitary hormones (Leeman and Carraway 1982). NT apparently does not cross the blood-brain barrier in appre- ciable quantities; however, when administered directly into the CNS, it produces a number of physiological and behavioral effects. A burgeoning body of evidence supports the role of NT as a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator. Thus far, het- erogeneous CNS distribution, release of NT upon neuronal depolarization, satu- rable and specific binding of NT to receptors, and degradation by peptidases have all been demonstrated.

The role of electrical signalling in the control of endocrine secretions by the brain has been clear for many years. Recently, the influences of hormones on synthetic events in neuroendocrine cells have raised new questions concerning the peptides released from such neurons. This volume concentrates on the relation between these two fields and asks how electrical action potentials facilitate secretion of substances from nerve cells which control endocrine events. While stimulus-secretion coupling has been studied extensively in other physiological contexts, this is the first treatment of the phenomenon in an exclusively neuroendocrine setting.

0 Behavioral Reaction Effect of Effect of Species Route of Dose of Reference - 0 oxytocin vasopressin treatment oxytocin (mol/animal) p r-' 11 Extinction of active avoidance Facilitation Opposite Rat i. p. 2x 10- SCHULZ et al. (1974, 1976); ~ (bench-jumping) reaction TELEGDY and KovAcs (1979a) 0 12 10- < Extinction of active avoidance Facilitation Opposite Rat i. c. v. BOHUS et aI. (1978b) "', 0 (pole-jumping) reaction '" 10 2 x 10- Extinction of active avoidance Delay Similar Rat s. c. WALTER et aI. (1978); (pole-jumping) behavior BoHUS et al. (1978b) 12 10- Acquisition of active avoidance Delay No effect Rat i. c. v. BoHUS et al. (1978b) (pole-jumping) behavior 11 2x 10- Acquisition of active avoidance No effect No effect Rat i. p. SCHULZ et al. (1974) (bench-jumping) behavior 10 Passive avoidance (step-down) Attenuation Opposite Rat i. p. 2x 10- KovAcs et al. (1978) behavior 13 10- Passive avoidance (step-through) Attenuation Opposite Rat i. c. v. BoHUS et al. (1978a, b); behavior KovAcs and DE WmD (1983) 14 2. 5 x 10- Passive avoidance (step-through) Attenuation Opposite Rat Hippocampus, KovAcs et al. (1979) behavior dorsal raphe 14 Passive avoidance (step-through) Facilitation Similar Rat Septum 2. 5 x 10- KovAcs et al. (1979) behavior 8 10- Passive avoidance (choice No effect No effect Rat ? SAGHAL and WRIGHT (1984) measure) 7 Attenuation of puromycin- 10- No effect Effective Mouse s. c WALTER et al.

Arousal is fundamental to all cognition. It is intuitively obvious, absolutely necessary, but what exactly is it? In "Brain Arousal and Information Theory," Donald Pfaff presents a daring perspective on this long-standing puzzle. Pfaff argues that, beneath our mental functions and emotional dispositions, a primitive neuronal system governs arousal. Employing the simple but powerful framework of information theory, Pfaff revolutionizes our understanding of arousal systems in the brain.

Starting with a review of the neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and neurochemical components of arousal, Pfaff asks us to look at the gene networks and neural pathways underlying the brain's arousal systems much as a design engineer would contemplate information systems. This allows Pfaff to postulate that there is a bilaterally symmetric, bipolar system universal among mammals that readies the animal or the human being to respond to stimuli, initiate voluntary locomotion, and react to emotional challenges. Applying his hypothesis to heightened states of arousal--sex and fear--Pfaff shows us how his theory opens new scientific approaches to understanding the structure of brain arousal.

A major synthesis of disparate data by a preeminent neuroscientist, Brain Arousal and Information Theory challenges current thinking about cognition and behavior. Whether you subscribe to Pfaff's theory or not, this book will stimulate debate about the nature of arousal itself.