If we are to understand the brain, we must understand how the individual molecules and cells of the nervous system function and ultimately contribute to our behavior. Molecular and Cellular Physiology of Neurons provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of what we now know—and what we want to know and can reasonably expect to discover in the near future—about the functioning of the brain at the level of molecules and cells.

Molecular and Cellular Physiology of Neurons takes readers from the fundamentals to the most sophisticated concepts and latest discoveries: from membrane potentials to recent experiments on voltage-gated ion channels, from descriptions of receptors, G proteins, effector molecules, and second messengers to an account of our current understanding of long-term potentiation.

In each chapter Fain discusses individual experiments that have made crucial contributions to our knowledge and that illustrate the techniques and approaches that have formed our present view of nerve cell function. Extensive illustrations add to this vivid account of not only what we know about cellular and molecular neurophysiology but how we know it.

Molecular and Cellular Physiology of Neurons: Second Edition is a comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to essential concepts of cellular neuroscience. Emphasizing experimental approaches and recent discoveries, it provides an in-depth look at the structure and function of nerve cells, from protein receptors and synapses to the biochemical processes that drive the mammalian nervous system.

Starting with the basics of electrical current flow across cell membranes, Gordon Fain covers voltage gating and receptor activation in the context of channel diversity, excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission, neuromodulation, and sensory transduction. Emphasizing long-term processes of synaptic potentiation and depression involved in memory, consciousness, and attention, he demonstrates how cells produce neural signals and regulate signal flow to enhance or impede cell-to-cell communication. Fain also addresses the relation of molecular and cellular mechanisms to evolving theories of neurological disease and addiction.

Enhanced by more than two hundred illustrations, Molecular and Cellular Physiology of Neurons: Second Edition is intended for anyone who seeks to understand the fundamentals of nerve cell function, including undergraduate and graduate students in neuroscience, students of bioengineering and cognitive science, and practicing neuroscientists who want to deepen their knowledge of recent discoveries in molecular and cellular neurophysiology.