| Abstract |
"This book is about the neuroendocrine brain - about the hypothalamus, the seat of our passions, and about the control that this small structure exerts on our physiology and behavior. The hypothalamus contains a vast diversity of neuronal types, and these signal not only though conventional messengers but by a wide range of other signals, many of which act as hormones within the brain. Behaviors important to who we are - love and hate, how much we eat and what we eat, how we respond to threat and to stress - are governed by the hypothalamus, and not by the map of how the neurons are connected, but by where the receptors for these peptide signals are found. Neurotransmitter signals are ephemeral and confined by anatomical connectivity, but the peptide signals that hypothalamic neurons generate are potent, wide reaching and long-lasting, and they affect not just neuronal excitability but also the genes that neurons express. Remarkably, different peptides when injected into the brain induce coherent, meaningful behaviors - some trigger eating, others induce a longing for salt, or initiate maternal behavior or aggression or sleep. This book describes the frontiers of current research into the hypothalamus, and does so in a way that makes it accessible to readers with no specialized knowledge."-- Provided by publisher. |
