The Making of the Nervous System

The development of the nervous system of invertebrates and vertebrates involves a complex series of mechanisms acting in concert to ensure that the correct structures are innervated appropriately. While many of them remain mysterious, a number of powerful techniques have recently become available which may help elucidate them. These mechanisms are remarkably diverse. This book reviews some of the progress that has been made in unravelling them. It focuses on the problems that remain unsolved and the possible problems in solving them. It is unusual in that, although a multi-author symposium, individual authors were asked to write broad-minded reviews of their fields. It is aimed at the advanced student of neurobiology as well as at more established workers in the field, bringing together concepts and findings made by workers researching both the nervous system and non-neural cells. Readership: postgraduate students and research workers in neurobiology and developmental biology. Medical and biological sciences libraries.

Table of Contents:
PART 1: GENERATING CELL DIVERSITY: R. Durbin: Determination of cell type in the central nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans ; S. Blackshaw: Cell lineage and the development of identified neurons in the leech; R. Wetts, N.A. O'Rourke & S.E. Fraser: Vital dye analyses of neuronal development and connectivity; PART 2: CELL INTERACTIONS AND EARLY PATTERN FORMATION: A. Warner: Analysis of induction in the amphibian nervous system; R.J. Keynes & C.D. Stern: The development of neural segmentation in vertebrate embryos; PART 3: MOLECULES AND GUIDANCE PATHWAYS: M. Bronner-Fraser: Guidance of neural crest migration during the early development of the peripheral nervous system; M. Jacobson: Neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) expression in Xenopus embryos during formation of central and peripheral neural maps; R.M. Lindsay: The role of neurotrophic growth factors in development, maintenance and regeneration of sensory neurons; A.G.S. Lumsden: Diffusible factors and chemotropism in development of the peripheral nervous system; J.A. Raper, S. Chang, J.P. Kapfhammer & F.G. Rathjen: Growth cone guidance and labelled axons; C.A.O. Stuermer: Navigation of normal and regenerating axons in the goldfish; R.V. Stirling & D. Summerbell: Axon guidance in the developing chick limb; J.P. Bacon: Transplantation of sensory neurons in the insect; R.H. Miller: Astrocyte heterogeneity in the vertebrate central nervous system; M.R. Poston, J. Fredieu, P.R. Carney & J. Silver: Roles of glia and of neural crest cells in creating axon pathways and boundaries in the vertebrate central and peripheral nervous system; PART 4: SHARPENING THE PATTERN: G.M. Innocenti: Loss of axonal projections in the development of the mammalian brain; J.W. Lichtman: Dynamic aspects of synaptic connections at the vertebrate neuromuscular junction; R.W. Guillery: Competition in the development of the visual pathways; J.T. Schmidt: Activity-dependent sharpening of the retinotopic projection on the tectum of goldfish in regeneration and development; J. Fawcett: Retinotopic maps, cell death and electrical activity in the retinotectal and retinocollicular projections; PART 5: DIFFERENTIATIVE EVENTS: A. Matus: Microtubule-associated proteins and neuronal morphogenesis; M.E. Cavanagh & J.G. Parnavelas: Neurotransmitter differentiation in cortical neurons; S.P. Hunt: The development of neurotransmitter receptors; M. Berry & M. Sadler: Factors influencing the development of dendritic form.