The Neurobiology of the Amygdala

In recent years, great interest has been focused on the field of neurobiology. In the last decade, various international and regional meetings, symposia, seminars and workshops have been organized to discuss brain regions such as the hypothalamus, cerebellum, medulla, cortex and hippocampus. A number of books have been published as a consequence of these gatherings. Uniquely and singularly absent from these conclaves has been a truly interdisciplinary discussion of the amygdala. The various chapters of this book represent the formal talks presented at The Advanced Study Institute held at the Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine, from June 6 to 17, 1971, with funds made available from the Scientific Affairs Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the National Science Foundation. The speakers and participants are grateful to these two institutions for being given the opportunity to gather and discuss their respective works that represent years of experi mental and clinical research centering on the amygdala. It is hoped that the experiments discussed in this book will act as a major stimulus to other scientists to initiate complementary and supplementary experiments for the better understanding of the specific role of the amygdala.

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Introductory Remarks.- Prologue.- Embryology.- The Development of the Human Amygdaloid Complex.- Anatomy.- Functional Implications of a Quantitative Ultrastructural Analysis of Synapses in the Preoptic Area and Ventromedial Nucleus.- Some Aspects of the Structural Organization of the Amygdala.- The Neural Connections of the Amygdaloid Complex in Mammals.- The Amygdaloid Projection Field in the Rat as Studied with the Cupric-Silver Method.- Stimulation and Regional Ablation of the Amygdaloid Complex with Reference to Functional Representations.- The Distribution of Acetylcholinesterase Enzyme in the Amygdala and Its Role in Aggressive Behavoir.- Electrophysiology - Neurophysiology.- Effects of Electrical Stimulation of the Amygdaloid Complex on the Ventromedial Hypothalamus.- Amygdaloid-Hypothalamic Neurophysiological Interrelationships.- Relationships among Amygdaloid and Other Limbic Structures in Influencing Activity of Lateral Hypothalamic Neurons.- The Role of the Amygdala in Controlling Hypothalamic Output.- The Human Amygdala: Electrophysiological Studies.- Neurosurgery.- Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Its Possible Contribution to the Understanding of the Functional Significance of the Amygdala and of Its Interaction with Neocortical-Temporal Mechanisms.- Stereotaxic Amygdalotomy.- Deep Temporal Lobe Stimulation in Man.- Psychology - Behavior - Psychiatry.- Effects of Amygdalectomy on Social-Affective Behavior in Nonhuman Primates.- The Role of the Amygdala in Escape-Avoidance Behavoirs.- Role of the Amygdala in the Control of "Mouse-Killing" Behavior in the Rat.- Long Term Alteration Following Amygdaloid Stimulation.- The Organization of the Defence Reaction Elicited from Amygdala and Its Connections.- Pharmacology.- Electrical Activity in the Amygdala and ItsModification by Drugs.- The Neurophysiological Effects of Amphetamine upon the Cat Amygdala.- Neuroendocrinology.- Effects of Lesions and Electrical Stimulation of the Amygdala on Hypothalamic-Hypophyseal-Regulation.- The Amygdaloid Nuclear Complex and Mechanisms of Release of Vasopressin from the Neurohypophysis.- Do Hypothalamic Neuroendocrine Cells have a Synaptic Output?.- Functions of the Amygdala Related to the Feedback Actions of Gonadal Steroid Hormones.- Estrogen, Androgen, and Glucocorticosteroid Concentrating Neurons in the Amygdala, Studied by Dry Autoradiography.- Estradiol-Concentrating Cells in the Rat Amygdala as Part of a Limbic-Hypothalamic Hormone-Sensitive System.- Remarks to Dr. Pfaff.- Molecular Biology.- Effects of Amygdaloid Lesions on Hypothalamic Macromolecules.