Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
Jean-Pierre CHANGEUX and Stuart J. EDELSTEIN
Éditions Odile JACOB - Johns Hopkins University Press
© 07-2006 
296 p - 61,94 euros - relié - Format 18,5 x 23,5 cm - ISBN 0 9768908 0 1
CHANGEUX and EDELSTEIN begin with a historical perspective, describing how several fields converged around a single receptor and then explain the initial receptor purification and characterization. Subsequent chapters trace the investigations into various aspects of receptor structure and function, including the chemical structure of the binding site, the identity and properties of the ion channel, and the mechanism of signal transmission.
In an essential chapter of the book, the authors discuss recent studies on the three dimensional structure of the receptor molecule and share their novel understanding of inherited diseases such as congenital myasthenia and epilepsy. They also address the integration of the receptor into its synaptic membrane environment and explore today's discoveries on its distribution, physiology, and regulation in brain functions and cognition.
Jean-Pierre CHANGEUX is a professor at the Collège de France and at the Institut Pasteur, where he is also director of the receptors and cognitions unit.
Stuart J. EDELSTEIN is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Geneva.
"The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor has served for many decades as the prototype for neurotransmitter receptors. Acetylcholine was the first neurotransmitter shown to be involved in the function of the mammalian brain and its nicotinic receptor the first receptor to be characterized. Jean-Pierre Changeux is the indisputable pioneer in this field. This volume summarizes with great lucidity the history of a highly important topic in neuroscience."
Paul Greengard
Nobel laureate in Medicine
The Rockefeller University
"One hesitates to call this book a monograph, for despite its comprehensive treatment of a complex subject it is not meant solely for specialized readers. In concentrating on a single class of neuroreceptors, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, it seeks to draw out general principles which apply more widely. It will therefore be welcomed not only by serious workers and students in the field of neurobiology, but also by anyone interested in the broader field of neuroscience."
Sir Aaron Klug, OM, FRS
Nobel laureate in Chemistry
University of Cambridge
"From the molecule to thought itself-an extraordinary journey! Changeux and Edelstein are uniquely qualified to relate this utterly fascinating story, whose philosophical implications are no less important than the scientific research underlying them."
Jean-Marie Lehn
Nobel laureate in Chemistry
ISIS-Université Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg
Quatrième de couverture :
From Sir Henri Dale's pharmacology of nicotine to the genetic diseases that involve mutations of the oligomeric nicotinic acetylcholine receptor's cation channel function, the book covers the acquisition of knowledge and ideas that cover most aspects of neuroscience. Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors are archetypical proteins that are being studied by pharmacologists, biochemists, molecular biologists, electrophysiologists, behaviorists and geneticists with Changeux and his co-workers involved in every aspect of this remarkable inquiry.
The nicotinic receptors are the workhorse of the fast actions of the widely used chemical signal acetylcholine in the periphery and the central nervous system. Nicotinic receptors are mediating the nervous control of voluntary muscles in the periphery and are involved in the control of reward functions, cognition and memory in the brain. This rich functionality enables the authors to describe models of development of the neuro-muscular junction organized around this receptor as well as the global workspace model of cognitive function and its role in effortful learning.
This book is a "tour de force" intellectually as it describes the process of decades of learning about one of the most studied topics in neuroscience in the last century. The Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor was among the first ligand-gated ion channels to be sequenced. It was the topic of neurobiological research in England, France, Germany, Japan and the United States with contributions of equal weight over many decades as the authors carefully chronicle and explain it.
This book is to be highly recommended to young scientists who want to discover into how many fields a single protein molecule can take them - from snake venom action to myasthenia gravis, addiction, learning, and schizophrenia - if they are willing patiently to learn new research techniques rather than specialize in a single method or instrument. To undertake the study of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in all its aspects requires a Renaissance mind, and it is exactly this that Changeux and Edelstein have brought to bear on one of the most studied topics in neuroscience of the last century. "
Tamas Bartfai
Chair and Professor
Department of Neuropharmacology
The Scripps Research Institute
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