Cortical Oscillations in Health and Disease - Hardcover

Traub MD, Roger; Whittington PhD, Miles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195342798 ISBN 13: 9780195342796

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010

Synopsis

This book first reviews the case that brain oscillations not only are important for cognition, as long suspected, but also play a part in the expression of signs and symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders. The cellular mechanisms of many of the clinically relevant oscillations have been studied by the authors and their colleagues, using in vitro slice methods as well as detailed computer simulations. A surprising insight is that gap junctions between principal neurons play an absolutely critical role in so many types of oscillation in neuronal populations; oscillations are not just the result of properties of individual neurons and their synaptic connections. Furthermore, the way in which gap junctions produce oscillations in the cortex is novel, involving as it does global properties of networks, rather than just the time constants of membrane currents. This insight has implications for therapeutics as well as for our understanding of normal brain functions.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr. Traub was educated in mathematics at Princeton, and medicine and neurology at U Penn and Columbia, respectively. He is a founder of the field of detailed modeling of neuronal networks, and has applied this type of modeling to the study of brain oscillations and epilepsy, collaborating closely with Dr. Whittington since the early 1990s.

Dr. Whittington was educated in pharmacology at Bristol University. He stayed in Bristol to study mechanisms of alcohol withdrawal-induced hyperexcitability before moving to St Mary's Hospital in London to study more general forms of epileptic activity, where he began working with Dr. Traub. He is founder in the field of in vitro models of EEG oscillations and continues to use these models, coupled with computational approaches, to attempt to understand the basic operational mode of human neocortex.

Review:

"Traub and Whittington's Cortical Oscillations in Health and Disease is a tour de force presentation of one of the pivotal concepts in modern neuroscience: the dynamic electrical organization of the brain's cortical mantle. Its treatment of the role of oscillatory coherence in the organization of temporal binding, based on the intrinsic neuronal properties and their recurrent connectivity, is masterful. The breadth and depth of this treatise is as impressive as is the insight into function offered by these two outstanding scientists."

--Rodolfo R. Llinįs MD, PhD, Chairman and Professor, Department of Physiology and Neuroscience New York University School of Medicine New York, NY

"Brain oscillations are an essential component of normal brain function but they also show key and sometimes pathognomonic alterations during brain disease. This monograph presents a thorough review of the advances made over the last 10 years in the understanding of the cellular mechanisms of various types of brain oscillations. Building largely on the vast body of experimental and computational work developed by the authors themselves, the book presents an insightful and critical review of the relevance of network oscillations in understanding major neuropsychiatric conditions such as parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and epilepsy. The book is written with sufficient detail as to be an essential read to scientists and clinicians but not hopeless to the non expert."

--Diego Contreras, MD, PhD, Dept of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

"The authors combine their enthusiasm for the subject with tremendous insight, resulting in a brilliant text suitable for a broad audience. A broad historical introduction draws in young scientists who know little about brain oscillations. This is followed by an in depth discussion of the significant developments in the field over the last ten years. The authors illustrate how advances in in vitro experimental setups and corresponding developments in theoretical modelling approaches have contributed to our understanding of the cellular processes underlying oscillatory activity in the cortex. Importantly, they are able to identify the links between the in vitro data with both in vivo experimental data and clinical observations, which is unique in a text of this nature."

--Dietmar Schmitz, Professor of Neurosciences at the Neuroscience Research Center in Berlin, Germany

"Cortical Oscillations in Health and Disease reveals the current thinking of two of the leading researchers on cortical oscillations, covering advances in the field in the last decade. It presents new work in a rich historical context, with lots of detail, but also syntheses of current and past ideas about both mechanism and function. A central theme of the work discussed is the role of axo-axonal gap junctions in the formation of rhythms in multiple frequency bands. This theme is controversial, opening important avenues of new research and questioning received wisdom about neural interactions. The implications for neuropsychiatric conditions and their treatment is discussed in detail. The authors have succeeded in summarizing a huge body of work and making it accessible to both experts and beginners."

--Nancy Kopell, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, Boston University, Boston, MA

"This book... provides an easy-to-read, entertaining, yet highly insightful introduction to the field, including original and surprising historical perspectives. Furthermore, it takes a fresh look at major neurological and psychiatric problems, ranging from epilepsy and different movement disorders to schizophrenia. It is also the first comprehensive summary of the authors' ground-breaking work on gap junctions and electrically coupled neuronal networks... the book manages to give a comprehensive overview on the important field of neuronal network oscillations, a provocative perspective on the long-debated role of electrical synapses in neuronal circuits, and a new approach to brain pathophysiology. It is a "must have" for those interested in the biological foundations of cognitive functions and dysfunctions."

--Prof.Dr.med. Andreas Draguhn, Institute for Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

2010 PROSE Award Honorable Mention recipient, Biomedicine and Neuroscience

"In their book Cortical Oscillations in Health and Disease, Traub and Whittington review
and coalesce a century?s worth of neurophysiological data in a complete yet readable
form, focusing on the important developments, presenting detail where necessary, but
largely setting aside minutia. While certainly not a light read, the book manages to remain
comprehensible and engaging throughout, avoiding the pitfalls of over-discussion.
Additionally the referencing is extensive allowing the interested reader to probe any
subtopic in more depth." -- Neurology

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0195342798
• ISBN 13: 9780195342796
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448