The elucidation of the cellular and molecular bases underlying the inte-
grated function of the central nervous system, both in disease and in
health, must ultimately come from the combined efforts of scientists
from many disciplines, including biology, chemistry, histology,
pathology, physiology, pharmacology, and psychology. Communication
between scientists from these various disciplines-vital to the
advancement of our understanding of the function of the nervous
system-has become more and more difficult in recent years. Both
increasing specialization and the incredible increases in publications
pertinent to brain research in a wide spectrum of journals, in symposium
volumes, in monographs, in abstracts, and in reviews contrib- ute to the
problems of cross-communication and even of communication within a
scientific discipline. Research on the significance of cyclic nucleo-
tides to the function of nervous systems is particularly illustrative of
the communication problem. Since the initial publications by Sutherland,
Rall, and Butcher in the late fifties and early sixties on high levels
of adenylate cyclase, phosphodiesterases, and cyclic AMP in brain, the
ensuing litera- ture of this field has expanded exponentially. At the
present time, from five to ten publications relevant to cyclic
nucleotides and the nervous system appear each week. Indeed, these are
minimal numbers based mainly on examination of literature titles and key
index words. Many articles concerned with some aspect of central
function contain, buried within their text, experiments with or related
to cyclic nucleotides.
