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. Aggression research is in a rapid state of development. The accelerating knowledge of neurotransmitter systems in the brain, their behavioural functions and the development of drugs which may specifically affect systems related to attack and defence is fruitfully combined with studies in which basic ethological observation and quantification techniques are used more routinely. Moreover, much of the experimental effort has finally applied some order to the initial chaos which afflicted the various experimental aggression models used in pharmacological, physiological and ethological research. This highly desirable trend not only leads to a better understanding of the phenomena studied and the terminologies employed, but it increases our awareness of the multiplicity of factors that are important, making it difficult to allow over hasty and simple generalizations. This book is a compilation of studies presented at the International Society for Research on Aggression meeting in Chicago 1986, in which leading investigators were invited to cover aspects of ethopharmacological aggression research in a wide variety of species, including studies on humans. The level to which ethological techniques have been incorporated into the various areas of research differs, as well as the knowledge and understanding of the neurotransmitter and experimental drug action on brain functioning in mammalian species. This naturally results in data which are not always easy to compare or to extrapolate between species but useful indicators are starting to emerge.

An international group of authors have produced an overview of the progress made in the medicinal chemistry of compounds (selectively) acting at serotonin receptors or serotonin transporters either as agonists, partial agonists or antagonists.Structure - affinity relationships and structure - activity relationships of agonists, partial agonists, and antagonists of 5-HT receptors and uptake sites, are discussed. Structure, sequence homology and the effect of site-directed mutations of 5-HT receptors and the reuptake site on the binding of ligands show the tremendous impact of molecular biology on medicinal chemistry research. Also discussed is the pharmacology and (potential) clinical applications of ligands for the 5-HT receptors and the reuptake site. By developing elegant techniques of cloning and expression of serotonin receptor subtypes, their mutants and chimeras, a unique opportunity was offered to study the binding mode of serotoninergic ligands to their receptors and transporters.The distribution, structure and homologies of serotonin receptor subtypes and the structure of the serotonin transporter are also taken into account.The (potential) therapeutic applications of ligands of the different subtypes are described.Altogether an excellent addition to the Pharmacochemical Library series.