MRI anatomy

• The updated edition integrates basic neuroscience into clinical chapters
• Major additions in the areas of psychosis, antipsychotics, antidepressants, impulsivity, compulsivity, and addiction
• The book is a comprehensive source of information on disease and drug mechanisms
• The mood chapter has expanded coverage of stress, neurocircuitry, and genetics
• Antidepressant and mood stabilizer chapters include new discussions on circadian rhythms and neurotransmitter receptors
• The anxiety chapter provides new coverage of fear conditioning, fear extinction, and reconsolidation
• The pain chapter updates neuropathic pain states
• The sleep/wake chapter includes expanded coverage of melatonin and new discussion of orexin pathways and orexin receptors
• The ADHD chapter includes new discussions on how norepinephrine and dopamine tune pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex
• The dementia chapter emphasizes new diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease and the integration of biomarkers into diagnostic schemes
• The impulsivity, compulsivity, and addiction chapter has been extensively revised to include a large number of related impulsive-compulsive disorders
• The book emphasizes the concept of symptom endophenotypes and dimensions of psychopathology that cut across syndromes
• Each chapter discusses symptoms and circuits to help in becoming a neurobiologically empowered psychopharmacologist
• The organization of information applies the principles of programmed learning for the reader, emphasizing repetition and interaction to enhance retention
• The text presents the fundamentals of psychopharmacology in a simplified and readily readable form
• The text is not extensively referenced to original papers but rather to textbooks, reviews, and a few selected original papers
• It is recommended for novices to approach the text by going through it from beginning to end, reviewing color graphics and legends for better understanding
• Essential Psychopharmacology exam
• The Essential Psychopharmacology series has expanded to include various products for interested readers
• For specific prescribing information, there are three prescriber's guides available:

  • Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology: the Prescriber's Guide for psychotropic drugs
  • Essential Neuropharmacology: the Prescriber's Guide for neurology drugs
  • Essential Pain Pharmacology: the Prescriber's Guide for pain drugs
• For clinical practice application, there is a book covering 40 cases from clinical practice:

  • Case Studies: Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology
• For assessment of expertise, maintenance of certification credits, and background on instructional design, there are two books available:

  • Stahl's Self-Assessment Examination in Psychiatry: Multiple Choice Questions for Clinicians
  • Best Practices in Medical Teaching
• For expanded visual coverage of specialty topics in psychopharmacology, there is the Stahl's Illustrated series covering various topics such as Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Anxiety, and more
• An edited series of sub-specialty topics includes:

  • Next Generation Antidepressants
  • Essential Evidence-Based Psychopharmacology, 2nd edition
  • Essential CNS Drug Development
• Access to all these books and additional features is available online at Essential Psychopharmacology Online at www.stahlonline.org
• The website offers downloadable slides of all figures in the book and narrated animations of several figures in the textbook
• The website is linked to the journal CNS Spectrums and the NEI website for various educational programs and resources
• The field of neuroscience and mental health is experiencing growth, providing opportunities for clinicians to utilize current therapeutics and anticipate future medications that will transform psychopharmacology
• Transmission along a myelinated neurone:
• Living systems receive stimuli, which are physical or chemical changes in the environment capable of producing a response
• External stimuli include temperature, moisture, light, and pressure, while internal stimuli include levels of metabolites, water, O2, and CO2
• Response is a change within a cell, tissue, or organism in reaction to a stimulus
• There are two coordination systems in living organisms: the Endocrine System for chemical/hormonal coordination and the Nervous System for nervous coordination
• Functions of the Nervous System:

  • Collect information about the external and internal environment
  • Process and integrate information, relating to the previous response
  • Initiate an appropriate response to the stimulus, coordinating the organism's activity
• Generalised structure of neurones:

  • Cell body contains a nucleus and organelles like ER, GA, mitochondria, and ribosomes
  • Extensions/processes from the cell body: Dendrons receive and transmit impulses, Axons transmit impulses away from the cell body
  • Axon transmits/conveys impulses away from the cell body, lacks ribosomes, contains microtubules for protein transport
  • Schwann cells wrap around axons and dendrons, forming the myelin sheath for protection and insulation
  • Nodes of Ranvier are gaps between Schwann cells where myelin sheath is absent
• Types of neurones:

  • Classified based on structures: Unipolar, Bipolar, and Multipolar neurones
  • Classified based on functions: Sensory neurones transmit impulses from receptors to the central nervous system, Motor neurones transmit impulses from the central nervous system to effectors, Internuncial/relay/intermediate neurones connect sensory and motor neurones in nervous pathways within the central nervous system
• Transmission of nerve impulse (or Action potential):

  • Stimulus received by sensory neurons is transmitted to the control centre, which initiates an appropriate response via motor neurons
  • Example scenarios of nerve impulse transmission in response to stimuli
• Events in the resting neurone (Resting Potential):

  • All living cells have an electrical charge difference across their cell surface membrane
  • Inside of the cell is slightly negative with respect to the outside, membrane is polarized
  • Membrane potential is usually in the range of -50 to -100 mV in an animal cell
  • Excitable cells have the ability to alter the membrane potential to produce an action potential
• Only excitable cells (e.g. sensory cells, neurons, and muscle cells) have the ability to alter the membrane potential to produce an action potential
• Non-excitable cells cannot produce an action potential (membrane potential remains constant)