Cyclic Nucleotides in the Nervous System

The elucidation of the cellular and molecular bases underlying the inte- grated function of the central nervous system, both in disease and in health, must ultimately come from the combined efforts of scientists from many disciplines, including biology, chemistry, histology, pathology, physiology, pharmacology, and psychology. Communication between scientists from these various disciplines-vital to the advancement of our understanding of the function of the nervous system-has become more and more difficult in recent years. Both increasing specialization and the incredible increases in publications pertinent to brain research in a wide spectrum of journals, in symposium volumes, in monographs, in abstracts, and in reviews contrib- ute to the problems of cross-communication and even of communication within a scientific discipline. Research on the significance of cyclic nucleo- tides to the function of nervous systems is particularly illustrative of the communication problem. Since the initial publications by Sutherland, Rall, and Butcher in the late fifties and early sixties on high levels of adenylate cyclase, phosphodiesterases, and cyclic AMP in brain, the ensuing litera- ture of this field has expanded exponentially. At the present time, from five to ten publications relevant to cyclic nucleotides and the nervous system appear each week. Indeed, these are minimal numbers based mainly on examination of literature titles and key index words. Many articles concerned with some aspect of central function contain, buried within their text, experiments with or related to cyclic nucleotides.