Towards an Understanding of Integrative Brain Function. Analysis at Multiple Levels (NS 103)

June 4-7, 1997
Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Organizers: Professors Kjell Fuxe, Sten Grillner, Tomas Hökfelt, Lars Olson and Luigi F. Agnati, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.

The symposium drew about 50 participants, including 33 lecturers from the United States, Finland, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden and Japan. The other participants were session chairmen and medical researchers who contributed to the discussions.

The first session analyzed the network level in terms of cortical maps and microcircuits, focusing on the structural and functional organization of the cerebral cortex. Participants discussed microscopic and macroscopic interaction in the brain's information processing.

Session II focused on communication in the central nervous system. It is well known that the central nervous system is based on a large number of nerve cells organized in functional modules which control different types of functions. This session examined evidence indicating that nerve cells communicate not only via rapid synaptic transmission, which is not wired but involves diffusion and convection of transmitters, especially monoamines, neuropeptides and NO. This communication pathway has been called volume transmission and may involve both short- and long-distance diffusion and convection of transmitters in the extracellular fluid and cerebrospinal fluid. An understanding of how integration of volume transmission and synaptic transmission takes place offers new ways of controlling neuronal networks.

Sessions III and IV brought the analysis down to the molecular level, focusing on fast and slow receptors and how, at this level, miniaturization of circuits becomes possible through the integration of transmitter signals at membrane, cytoplasmic and nuclear levels. Certain key mechanisms of this integration are represented by receptor-receptor interactions and protein phorphorylation, which the sessions also examined.

Session V discussed integration of trophic and cytokine signaling and how such processes can participate in neuronal degeneration and repair mechanisms. These signals may undergo rapid changes and interact with transmitter signals, causing changes in intracellular calcium levels, for example.

The final session of the meeting was devoted to increasing our understanding of cognition, memory and consciousness, based on integrative events that take place at the network, local circuit, membrane and gene levels. The plastic changes that occur as a result of such integrative events may provide the basis for forming various types of engrams.

We believe that this review of integrative brain functions may be of importance, especially to scientists working in the field of neuroscience. It may also facilitate the development of more realistic models of the brain.

The contributions presented during the symposium have been published in Brain Research Reviews in the spring of 1998 (Elsevier).

Participants
Dr. Luigi F. Agnati University of Modena Italy	Dr. Carlos Ibanez Karolinska Institutet Sweden
Dr. Per Andersen University of Oslo Norway	Dr. Eric Kandel Howard Hughes Medical Center, Columbia University, USA
Dr. Marie Åsberg Karolinska Sjukhuset Sweden	Dr. Mary Kennedy California Institute of Technology, USA
Dr. Tamas Bartfai Stockholm University Sweden	Dr. Krister Kristensson Karolinska Insitutet Sweden
Dr. Floyd E. Bloom The Scripps Research Institute, USA	Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, USA
Dr. Ian Campbell The Scripps Research Institute, USA	Dr. Shigetada Nakanishi Kyoto University, Japan
Dr. Marc Caron Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA	Dr. Lars-Göran Nilsson Stockholm University Sweden
Dr. Jean-Pierre Changeux Institut Pasteur, France	Dr. Sven Ove Ögren Karolinska Institutet Sweden
Dr. Moses Chao Cornell University, Medical College, USA	Dr. Lars Olson Karolinska Institutet Sweden
Dr. Tom Curran St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA	Dr. David Ottoson Lidingö, Sweden
Dr. Pietro De Camilli Yale University Medical School, USA	Dr. Per Roland Karolinska Institutet Sweden
Dr. Antonio Damasio University of Iowa, USA	Dr. Bert Sakmann Max-Planck-Inst. for Medical Research, Germany
Dr. R. Dermietzel University of Regensburg Germany	Dr. Jean-Charles Schwartz Centre Paul Broca de l'INSERM, France
Dr. Errol B. De Souza Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc., USA	Dr. John Searle University of California U S A
Dr. Gerald M. Edelman The Neurosciences Inst., USA	Dr. Göran Sedvall Karolinska Sjukhuset Sweden
Dr. Curt von Euler Karolinska Institutet Sweden	Dr. Peter Seeburg University of Heidelberg ZMBH, Germany
Dr. Bertil Fredholm Karolinska Insitutet Sweden	Dr. Solomon Snyder Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA
Dr. Kjell Fuxe Karolinska Institutet Sweden	Dr. Peter Somogyi University of Oxford, UK
Dr. Apostolos Georgopoulos VA Medical Center, USA	Dr. Torgny Svensson Karolinska Institutet Sweden
Dr. Paul Greengard Rockefeller University, USA	Dr. Richard Tsien Stanford University School of Medicine, USA
Dr. Sten Grillner Karolinska Insitutet Sweden	Dr. Zsuzsanna Wiesenfeld-Hallin Huddinge Sjukhus, Sweden
Dr. Jan-Åke Gustaffson Huddinge Hospital Sweden	Dr. Hans Wigzell Karolinska Insitutet Sweden
Dr. Tomas Hökfelt Karolinska Institutet Sweden