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The last decades have witnessed a radical change in our views on central nervous system damage and repair. This change is not only due to the emergence of new powerful tools for the analysis of the brain and its reactions to insults, but it also reflects a conceptual change in the way we approach these problems. As an illustration to this development, it is instructive to go back to the proceedings of a meeting at the NIH in 1955 edited by William F. Windle, which summarizes the disillusioned and pessimistic view on CNS regeneration prevailing at the time. While this generation of researchers were well aware of the issues at stake, they felt they had reached the end of the road; the approaches they had pursued had got stuck and the tools available could not take them any further. I can very well imagine that the participants, most of them leaders in the field, left that conference feeling they had heard their field being sentenced to death.
List of contents
Pattern Formation In The Vertebrate Cns.- Hox Gene Function and the Development of the Head.- Genetic Mechanisms Responsible for Pattern Formation in the Vertebrate Hindbrain: Regulation of Hoxb-1.- Pax Genes as Pleiotropic Regulators of Embryonic Development.- Induction and the Generation of Regional and Cellular Diversity in the Developing Mammalian Brain.- Genetic Determinants of Neural Cell Fate.- Potential Role of Homeobox Genes in Neural Cell Differentiation.- Pou Domain Transcription Factors in the Neuroendocrine System.- Multiple Roles for Proneural Genes in Drosophila Neurogenesis.- Genetic Analysis of Neuronal Migration in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.- Induction and Differentiation of Motor Neurons.- Neural Cell Differentiation.- Neuronal Development in the Rat Sympathoadrenal Lineage.- Specification of Cell Fate in the Vertebrate Retina.- Neurotrophins and Trk Receptors in Hippocampal Development.- From Precursor Cell Biology to Tissue Repair in the O-2A Lineage.- Neuronal Cell Specification from CNS Stem Cells.- Community Living in Forebrain: Neural Precursors Modify their Regional Specificity after Heterotopic Transplantation within the Telencephalon.- Targeted Neocortical Cell Death Guides the Fate of Transplanted Neural Precursors.- Neurodegeneration Induced by Deregulation of Neurofilament Gene Expression in Transgenic Mice.- Strategies for Neural Cell Replacement in Neurodegenerative Disorders.- Co-Grafts in Dopamine-Depleted Primates: Preliminary Results and Theoretical Issues Related to Human Applications for Parkinson's Disease.- Using Fetal Mesencephalic Grafts to Treat MPTP-Induced Parkinsonism.- Incorporation of Cells into Adult Fibre Tracts.- Characteristics of Intraspinal Grafts and Locomotor Function after Spinal Cord Injury.- Role ofTarget-Derived Neurotrophins in the Maintenance of Developing and Adult Basal Forebrain Neurons.- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis as a Target Disease for Gene Therapy Using the Encapsulation Technology.- Modulation of Cell Death in Neural Cell Lines and Transplants.- Abstracts.- Contributors.
Summary
Proceedings of the Third Altschul Symposium held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, May 12-14, 1994.
Report
`An excellent summary for neurobiologists interested in neural development and regeneration and a starting point for researchers interested in entering the areas.'
Journal of Chemical
