Synaptic Plasticity and Transsynaptic Signaling

by Patric K. Stanton (Editor), Clive Bramham (Editor), Helen E. Scharfman (Editor)

Brain functions are realized by the activity of neuronal networks composed of a huge number of neurons. The efficiency of information transfer within the networks is changeable. Even the networks themselves can change through experience. Information transfer between neurons is performed at the synapse (the site of the neurons’ contact) by release of neurotransmitters from the pre-synaptic cell and capture of neurotransmitters by the post-synaptic cell. The amount of released neurotransmitter or the efficacy of capture can change. Moreover, synapses are found to be newly formed upon activity or abandoned upon inactivity. These changes are called "synaptic plasticity". This text focuses on one component of synaptic plasticity called transsynaptic signaling, or communication of synapses during their formation.

571 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Reenie · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the end, this book wasn't all bad. A lot of parts of it were, though - most glaringly (because it really would have been so comparatively easy to fix) the proof-reading, formatting and setting of the pages, which were seriously shoddy. As in, a whole bunch of errors that would have looked bad in a masters thesis, let alone an officially bound, published book.

Mostly, the quality was very uneven, in the content as well as the formatting - and the two were correlated, on the whole. Chapters that were well-written, with carefully constructed arguments and so on, generally were well edited, and chapters that were confusing, poorly argued (either ideas that were just bad or ones that were so incomprehensibly written that it was impossible to judge the actual scientific ideas behind them) were more likely to have amateur errors. A lesson? Maybe.

At least it's fairly recent, so it's fairly up-to-date, and it has a wide range of chapters, some of which really were very interesting. But there's definitely no point in reading it cover to cover and suffering through the crap ones just to get the whole picture (which was what I did... oops).