Synaptic Plasticity ─ Dynamics, Development and Disease

This book introduces the current concepts of molecular mechanisms in synaptic plasticity and provides a comprehensive overview of cutting-edge research technology used to investigate the molecular dynamics of the synapses. It explores current concepts on activity-dependent remodeling of the synaptic cytoskeleton and presents the latest ideas on the different forms of plasticity in synapses and dendrites. Synaptic Plasticity in Health and Disease not only supplies readers with extensive knowledge on the latest developments in research, but also with important information on clinical and applied aspects. Changes in spine synapses in different brain disease states, so-called synaptopathies, are explained and described by experts in the field. By outlining basic research findings as well as physiological and pathophysiological impacts on synaptic plasticity, the book represents an essential state-of-the-art work for scientists in the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology and the neurosciences, as well as for doctors in neurology and psychiatry alike.

Michael R. Kreutz studied psychology, philosophy and linguistics at the University of Munster, Germany. He completed his PhD in Behavioral Neurosciences at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany and subsequently received a stipend from the Centers for Brain Research and Metabolism to become a research fellow at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, USA. From 1990 to 1993 he was staff scientist in the Department of Molecular Neuroendocrinology at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Gottingen, Germany. In 1993, he received a research leader position at the University of Madgeburg. From 1998 to 2007 he was head of the independent research group “Molecular Mechanism of Plasticity” at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg. Since 2007 he has been tenured senior research group leader and head of the Neuroplasticity research group at the Leibniz Institute in Magdeburg.Carlo Sala studied Medicine at the University of Milano, Italy. He completed his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Milano in 1997. From 1998 to 2001 he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. In these years he received fellowships from the Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Foundation, the Consiglio Nazionnale delle Richerche (CNR) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. From 2001 to 2005 he held a research assistant position at CNR Neuroscience Institute in Milano, Italy and since 2006 he has been an assistant researcher at the CNR Neuroscience Institute in Milano.