Studies on the Biology of the Neuroactive Amines; A Morphologic and Pharmacologic Approach

Author

Herbert Meltzer

Date of Award

1-1-1963

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Medical Doctor (MD)

Abstract

[From the Introduction] The discoveries that histamine is found in the mast cells of a myriad of species, that 5-hydroxytryptamine is found in the mast cells of the rat and mouse, and that these amines are largely bound in granules made this cell of great interest to the student of amine biology. It meant that the mast cell, along with the cells of the adrenal medulla and the blood platelets could serve as a model system for the amine biology of the vertebrate nervous system whose complexity makes a direct experimental approach extremely difficult. Thus, information about amine synthesis, destruction, binding, release, regulation, and the influence of hormones and rugs is much more easily obtained from the mast cell than from the vertebrate nervous system. And with the economy of mechanism that nature practices, it seems reasonable to hope that the information obtained from the mast cells would be of value in understanding many of the features of amines in the nervous system. This has indeed proven true. Investigators, throughout the world have explored the mast cells with particular attention to their amines. It need not be stressed that the mast cell has great intrinsic interest in its own right.

Comments

This is an Open Access Thesis.

Recommended Citation

Meltzer, Herbert, "Studies on the Biology of the Neuroactive Amines; A Morphologic and Pharmacologic Approach" (1963). Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library. 509.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ymtdl/509