Brain Histamine In The Regulation Of Mammalian Hibernation

This book comprehensively describes biological phenomena, adaptation mechanisms, and strategies of living organisms to survive under extremely cold or desiccated conditions at molecular, cellular, and organ levels. It also provides tremendous potential for applications of the findings to a wide variety of industries. The volume consists of three parts: Part 1, Adaptation Mechanisms of Cold, and Part 2, Adaptation Mechanisms of Desiccation, collect up-to-date research on mechanisms and strategies of living organisms such as sleeping chironomids, polar marine fishes, hibernating mammals, bryophytes, dormant seeds, and boreal plants to survive under extreme cold and desiccated conditions at molecular, cellular, and organ levels. Part 3, Application Technologies from Laboratory to Society, covers various applications to a wide variety of industries such as the medical, food, and agricultural and life science industries. For example, biological knowledge of how plants and animals survive under cold, drought, and desiccated conditions may provide a hint on how we can improve crop production in a very fragile environment in global climate change. Unique molecules that protect cells during desiccation and freezing such as trehalose and antifreeze protein (AFP) have potential for use to preserve cells, tissues, and organs for the long term under very stable conditions. In addition, the current progress of supercooling technology of cells may lead us to solve problems of cellular high sensitivity to freezing injury, which will dramatically improve the usability of these cells. Furthermore, knowledge of water substitution and glass formation as major mechanisms for formulation designs and new drying technologies will contribute to the development of food preservation and drug delivery systems under dry conditions. Written by contributors who have been conducting cutting-edge science in related fields, this title is recommended to a wide variety of readers who are interested in learning from such organisms their strategies, mechanisms, and applications, and it will inspire researchers in various disciplines.

This volume provides a novel insight to the evolutionary and comparative aspects of nitric oxide- nitric oxide synthase system as a central regulator of invertebrate and vertebrate homeostasis. By critically selecting and summarizing the ever–increasing number of original studies, these presentations review a variety of important signalling and modulatory roles played by nitric oxide at molecular, cell, organ and organ system levels. It addresses not only specialists and graduate students in the field, but also all biologists concerned with how this unique, gaseous, pleiotropic molecule has been employed by living systems, uncovering a new dimension of the wonders of life.

Brain aminergic pathways are organized in parallel and interacting systems, which support a range of functions, from homoeostatic regulations to cognitive, and motivational processes. Despite overlapping functional influences, dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline and histamine systems provide different contributions to these processes. The histaminergic system, long ignored as a major regulator of the sleep-wake cycle, has now been fully acknowledged also as a major coordinator of attention, learning and memory, decision making. Although histaminergic neurons project widely to the whole brain, they are functionally heterogeneous, a feature which may provide the substrate for differential regulation, in a region-specific manner, of other neurotransmitter systems. Neurochemical preclinical studies have clearly shown that histamine interacts and modulates the release of neurotransmitters that are recognized as major modulators of cognitive processing and motivated behaviours. As a consequence, the histamine system has been proposed as a therapeutic target to treat sleep-wake disorders and cognitive dysfunctions that accompany neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory pathologies. Last decades have witnessed an unexpected explosion of interest in brain histamine system, as new receptors have been discovered and selective ligands synthesised. Nevertheless, the complete picture of the histamine systems fine-tuning and its orchestration with other pathways remains rather elusive. This Research Topic is intended to offer an inter-disciplinary forum that will improve our current understanding of the role of brain histamine and provide the fundamentals necessary to drive innovation in clinical practice and to improve the management and treatment of neurological disorders.

Reveals an Emerging Avenue of Potential Treatments for a Host of Challenging Diseases and DisordersThe H3 receptor is known to play a major role in a range of CNS disorders, including those affecting cognitive functions such as ADHD and Alzheimer's disease, as well as sleep disorders, obesity, epilepsy, schizophrenia, depression, and neurodege

This book will be the first book that presents the beneficial effects of hydrogen sulfide in the treatment of various kidney pathologies. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a gas with a distinctive smell of rotten eggs, was known for over three centuries for its toxicity and death at high concentrations especially among agricultural and industrial workers. This is due to its ability to reversibly antagonize complex IV of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. However, studies over the past two decades have shown that H2S has risen above its historic notorious label and has received significant experimental attention as an endogenously produced gaseous signaling molecule that plays an important role in cellular homeostasis and influences a myriad of physiological and pathological processes at low concentrations. Its production is enzymatically regulated and has specific molecular targets. Several recent in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that at low micromolar concentrations, H2S exhibits important therapeutic characteristics that target multiple molecular pathways and thereby preventing the development and progression of several pathologies. This beneficial effect of H2S suggests that it may meet the demand for alternative and/or additional therapeutic agents against various renal pathologies in which reduced levels of renal and plasma H2S were observed. Interestingly, while the distribution of H2S-producing enzymes is tissue-specific, they are abundantly expressed in the glomeruli and in the brush border and cytoplasm of epithelial cells of the renal tubules and in the peritubular capillaries. This makes the kidney a rich source of endogenous H2S production. From pre-clinical and clinical perspectives, this book is topical and timely, and seeks to lay the foundation for future clinical applications of H2S in nephrology.

This 14-hour free course examined the differences between animal hibernation and torpor, such as the triggers for each condition and their physiology.