Excerpt from The Nervous and Chemical Regulators of Metabolism: Lectures The progress of every science and of every branch of a science is like that of a ship beating to wind ward, now to one side now to the other of the Straight line towards the port ahead, and, every now and then, it is well that the position, as regards the true course, should be determined. In the study of the regulation of metabolism we have for some considerable time been sailing steadily on the tack of chemical regulation, and it behoves us to consider what point we have reached, and how we lie as regards the true line of advance. This is the Object of these lectures. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This presentation describes various aspects of the regulation of tissue oxygenation, including the roles of the circulatory system, respiratory system, and blood, the carrier of oxygen within these components of the cardiorespiratory system. The respiratory system takes oxygen from the atmosphere and transports it by diffusion from the air in the alveoli to the blood flowing through the pulmonary capillaries. The cardiovascular system then moves the oxygenated blood from the heart to the microcirculation of the various organs by convection, where oxygen is released from hemoglobin in the red blood cells and moves to the parenchymal cells of each tissue by diffusion. Oxygen that has diffused into cells is then utilized in the mitochondria to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of all cells. The mitochondria are able to produce ATP until the oxygen tension or PO2 on the cell surface falls to a critical level of about 4–5 mm Hg. Thus, in order to meet the energetic needs of cells, it is important to maintain a continuous supply of oxygen to the mitochondria at or above the critical PO2 . In order to accomplish this desired outcome, the cardiorespiratory system, including the blood, must be capable of regulation to ensure survival of all tissues under a wide range of circumstances. The purpose of this presentation is to provide basic information about the operation and regulation of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, as well as the properties of the blood and parenchymal cells, so that a fundamental understanding of the regulation of tissue oxygenation is achieved.

Metabolism of the Nervous System contains the proceedings of the 2nd International Neurochemical Symposium, held at Aarhus, Denmark, in July 1956. The book discusses the molecular structure and morphology of the adult nervous tissue; the chemical composition and cytochemical localization of adult nervous tissue; and the permeability and blood-brain barrier. The text also describes topics on electrolytes and nervous conduction; the metabolism of isolated nerve and ganglion; and the metabolism of the brain in vivo. The metabolism of brain tissue preparations in vitro; energy metabolism and coenzymes in relation to the nervous system; and lipid and fatty acid metabolism are also considered. The book further tackles nucleic acid metabolism; protein and amino acid metabolism; and cholinergic and non-cholinergic transmission. The text also discusses other pharmacologically active compounds related to the adult nervous tissue.