Systems Approaches to Developmental Neurobiology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Neural Development in Insects: Neuron Birth, Pathfinding, Synaptogenesis, Competition

   • Jonathan M. Blagburn, Jonathan P. Bacon

   Pages 1-9

3. Development of the Peripheral Nervous System in Drosophila

   • Mar Ruiz-Gómez, Alain Ghysen

   Pages 11-19

4. Genetic and Cellular Interactions in Neurogenesis of Drosophila melanogaster

   • Fernando Jiménez, José A. Campos-Ortega

   Pages 21-27

5. Lineage Versus Environment as a Determinant of Neuronal Phenotype

   • Janet E. Braisted, Pamela A. Raymond

   Pages 29-39

6. Primary Motoneurons of the Zebrafish

   • Walter K. Metcalfe, Monte Westerfield

   Pages 41-47

7. Early Events in the Formation of the Vertebrate Brain

   • Linda S. Ross, Stephen S. Easter Jr.

   Pages 49-58

8. In Vivo and In Vitro Guidance of Axons

   • Timothy Allsopp, Friedrich Bonhoeffer

   Pages 59-68

9. The Construction of a Visual System

   • J. S. H. Taylor, R. M. Gaze

   Pages 69-79

10. In Vivo Correlates of In Vitro Studies of Axonal Guidance: Retinal Transplantation in the Mammalian Retinotectal System

    • Mark Hankin, Raymond Lund

    Pages 81-89

11. Embryonic-Adult Interactions: Cellular Mechanisms Involved in Purkinje Cell Replacement by Neuronal Grafting

    • Patricia Gaspar, Constantino Sotelo

    Pages 91-98

12. The Regulation of Neuronal Morphology and Innervation in Developing and Adult Animals: Anatomical, Physiological and In Vivo Observations

    • Anthony-Samuel LaMantia, Dale Purves

    Pages 99-111

13. The Development of Cortical Projections

    • Peter Kind, Giorgio Innocenti

    Pages 113-125

14. The Visual System of Flies: Analysis of the Number, Specificity, Plasticity, and Phylogeny of Identified Synapses

    • René Marois, I. A. Meinertzhagen

    Pages 127-139

15. Postnatal Development of the Cats Visual Pathways

    • Larry R. Stanford, S. Murry Sherman

    Pages 141-152

16. Theoretical Approaches and Cellular Analogs of Functional Plasticity in the Developing and Adult Vertebrate Visual Cortex

    • Daniel Shulz, Yves Frégnac

    Pages 153-165

17. Abstracts

    • Pamela A. Raymond, Stephen S. Easter Jr., Giorgio M. Innocenti

    Pages 167-182

18. Back Matter

    Pages 183-194

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It is appropriate at the outset of this book to pose a question that was often asked --of the organizers before the meeting took place and later among those who participated in the meeting -- "What is meant by 'Systems Approaches' in the study of developmental neurobiology?" The answer, as we originally conceived it, can be succinctly summarized by the word "interactions". That brief epithet was expanded during the general discussion portion of the meeting, where the following definition was offered: "Systems approaches in developmental neurobiology are unified by attention to the emergent properties of the developing system under investigation and by a focus on the aspects of development of the nervous system that depend on interactions among its various elements, be they molecular, intracellular or multicellular. " As opposed to ignoring complexity or trying to wish it away, those of us who utilize a systems approach embrace the principle that complexity is what makes the nervous system special. We have come to recognize that wherever we look, we find interactions which are to be probed and eventually. understood. Even the so-called "simple systems", a term that has been used to describe many invertebrate preparations, are embraced under the above definition, since with further study it is becoming increasing clear that such systems are not as simple as once thought. We also include molecular genetics under the systems rubric. After all, genes regulate other genes which regulate others, and so it goes.

• Invertebrate
• Nervous System
• Vertebrate
• attention
• biology
• development
• genes
• neurobiology

• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

  Pamela A. Raymond, Stephen S. Easter

• Institute of Anatomy, Lausanne, Switzerland

  Giorgio M. Innocenti

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