Szilveszter E. Vizi | |
|---|---|
 E. S. Vizi | |
| Born | 31 December 1936 (age 87) |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Citizenship | Hungarian |
| Spouse | Veronika Ádám |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medicine |
Szilveszter E. Vizi (31 December 1936) is a Hungarian physician, neuroscientist, pharmacologist and university professor who served as President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences between 2002 and 2008. He issues some of his papers under the name E. S. Vizi or E. Sylvester Vizi.
Vizi was born in Budapest. He is the father of two children (a son and a daughter). His wife, Veronika Ádám, is a professor of biochemistry at the Semmelweis University and also a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Even though his studies had started in Pécs at the University of Medicine, he then moved to Budapest in 1956, where he graduated in 1961 in (now called) Semmelweis University, the oldest medical school in Hungary. After graduation Vizi remained at the university, where at first he became an assistant professor and in 1965, an associate professor at the Department of Pharmacology.
He earned the title Candidate of Sciences (PhD) in 1969. Vizi received his evaluation as professor of pharmacology in 1976. One year later he earned the title Doctor of Sciences (DSc). The same year Vizi was named deputy chairman of the medical research council department at the Ministry of Health in Hungary. He held both posts until 1981, when he became the deputy director at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapy at the Imre Haynal University of Health (since 2000 part of Semmelweis University). He was named director of the institute in 1989 and held this post until 2002. [1]
He was elected to the academy as a corresponding member in 1985 and as a full member in 1990. Vizi worked as vice president of the academy from 1996 to 2002, when he became the president of the academy. He held his position until 2008. He was inducted to the Academia Europaea in 1992. [2] In 2010, he was elected to the board of the Hungarian Football Association.
Vizi was a Riker Fellow at the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Oxford from 1967 to 1969, where he worked alongside Sir William Paton. He was visiting professor at the universities of Mainz and Parma. He also taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University (Montefiore Medical Center) as a visiting professor since 1984. [3]
Vizi works as Editor-in-chief of Neurochemistry International and as Section Editor of the Brain Research Bulletin . [1]
A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse. The cell receiving the signal, or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell.
Chemical synapses are biological junctions through which neurons' signals can be sent to each other and to non-neuronal cells such as those in muscles or glands. Chemical synapses allow neurons to form circuits within the central nervous system. They are crucial to the biological computations that underlie perception and thought. They allow the nervous system to connect to and control other systems of the body.
Acetylcholine (ACh) is an organic compound that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals as a neurotransmitter. Its name is derived from its chemical structure: it is an ester of acetic acid and choline. Parts in the body that use or are affected by acetylcholine are referred to as cholinergic.
The adrenergic receptors or adrenoceptors are a class of G protein-coupled receptors that are targets of many catecholamines like norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and epinephrine (adrenaline) produced by the body, but also many medications like beta blockers, beta-2 (β2) agonists and alpha-2 (α2) agonists, which are used to treat high blood pressure and asthma, for example.
A neuromuscular junction is a chemical synapse between a motor neuron and a muscle fiber.
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, or nAChRs, are receptor polypeptides that respond to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Nicotinic receptors also respond to drugs such as the agonist nicotine. They are found in the central and peripheral nervous system, muscle, and many other tissues of many organisms. At the neuromuscular junction they are the primary receptor in muscle for motor nerve-muscle communication that controls muscle contraction. In the peripheral nervous system: (1) they transmit outgoing signals from the presynaptic to the postsynaptic cells within the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, and (2) they are the receptors found on skeletal muscle that receive acetylcholine released to signal for muscular contraction. In the immune system, nAChRs regulate inflammatory processes and signal through distinct intracellular pathways. In insects, the cholinergic system is limited to the central nervous system.
End plate potentials (EPPs) are the voltages which cause depolarization of skeletal muscle fibers caused by neurotransmitters binding to the postsynaptic membrane in the neuromuscular junction. They are called "end plates" because the postsynaptic terminals of muscle fibers have a large, saucer-like appearance. When an action potential reaches the axon terminal of a motor neuron, vesicles carrying neurotransmitters are exocytosed and the contents are released into the neuromuscular junction. These neurotransmitters bind to receptors on the postsynaptic membrane and lead to its depolarization. In the absence of an action potential, acetylcholine vesicles spontaneously leak into the neuromuscular junction and cause very small depolarizations in the postsynaptic membrane. This small response (~0.4mV) is called a miniature end plate potential (MEPP) and is generated by one acetylcholine-containing vesicle. It represents the smallest possible depolarization which can be induced in a muscle.
Jean-Pierre Changeux is a French neuroscientist known for his research in several fields of biology, from the structure and function of proteins, to the early development of the nervous system up to cognitive functions. Although being famous in biological sciences for the MWC model, the identification and purification of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and the theory of epigenesis by synapse selection are also notable scientific achievements. Changeux is known by the non-scientific public for his ideas regarding the connection between mind and physical brain. As put forth in his book, Conversations on Mind, Matter and Mathematics, Changeux strongly supports the view that the nervous system functions in a projective rather than reactive style and that interaction with the environment, rather than being instructive, results in the selection amongst a diversity of preexisting internal representations.
An autoreceptor is a type of receptor located in the membranes of nerve cells. It serves as part of a negative feedback loop in signal transduction. It is only sensitive to the neurotransmitters or hormones released by the neuron on which the autoreceptor sits. Similarly, a heteroreceptor is sensitive to neurotransmitters and hormones that are not released by the cell on which it sits. A given receptor can act as either an autoreceptor or a heteroreceptor, depending upon the type of transmitter released by the cell on which it is embedded.
The alpha-2 (α2) adrenergic receptor is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) associated with the Gi heterotrimeric G-protein. It consists of three highly homologous subtypes, including α2A-, α2B-, and α2C-adrenergic. Some species other than humans express a fourth α2D-adrenergic receptor as well. Catecholamines like norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and epinephrine (adrenaline) signal through the α2-adrenergic receptor in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell.
A heteroreceptor is a receptor regulating the synthesis and/or the release of mediators other than its own ligand.
Neurotransmitter transporters are a class of membrane transport proteins that span the cellular membranes of neurons. Their primary function is to carry neurotransmitters across these membranes and to direct their further transport to specific intracellular locations. There are more than twenty types of neurotransmitter transporters.
The alpha-7 nicotinic receptor, also known as the α7 receptor, is a type of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor implicated in long-term memory, consisting entirely of α7 subunits. As with other nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, functional α7 receptors are pentameric [i.e., (α7)5 stoichiometry].
Nonsynaptic plasticity is a form of neuroplasticity that involves modification of ion channel function in the axon, dendrites, and cell body that results in specific changes in the integration of excitatory postsynaptic potentials and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials. Nonsynaptic plasticity is a modification of the intrinsic excitability of the neuron. It interacts with synaptic plasticity, but it is considered a separate entity from synaptic plasticity. Intrinsic modification of the electrical properties of neurons plays a role in many aspects of plasticity from homeostatic plasticity to learning and memory itself. Nonsynaptic plasticity affects synaptic integration, subthreshold propagation, spike generation, and other fundamental mechanisms of neurons at the cellular level. These individual neuronal alterations can result in changes in higher brain function, especially learning and memory. However, as an emerging field in neuroscience, much of the knowledge about nonsynaptic plasticity is uncertain and still requires further investigation to better define its role in brain function and behavior.
The alpha-3 beta-4 nicotinic receptor, also known as the α3β4 receptor and the ganglion-type nicotinic receptor, is a type of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, consisting of α3 and β4 subunits. It is located in the autonomic ganglia and adrenal medulla, where activation yields post- and/or presynaptic excitation, mainly by increased Na+ and K+ permeability.
Miodrag (Misha) Radulovacki, was a Serbian American scientist and inventor. He was Professor of Pharmacology in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Radulovacki's research accomplishments include: (1) the Adenosine Sleep Theory, and (2) pioneering pharmacological studies for the treatment of sleep apnea, together with research collaborator, David W. Carley,. Radulovacki and Carley invented several drug therapies for the treatment of sleep apnea which have been patented by the UIC. The UIC recognized them as the 2010 "Inventors of the Year." Radulovacki published more than 170 scientific papers. Radulovacki was also a Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
David S. Bredt is an American molecular neuroscientist.
Beat H. Gähwiler, is a Swiss emeritus professor in neuroscience at the Brain Research Institute of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Giancarlo Pepeu was an Italian Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Florence and an Honorary Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society. He was from Milan and graduated with a Laurea degree in Medicine from the University of Florence to pursue an academic career.
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