Department of Pharmacology, Division of Molecular Neuropsychopharmacology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, 5067 Graves Hall, 333 W. 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, United States.
Pharmacol Res. 2011 Oct;64(4):350-8. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2011.05.013. Epub 2011 Jun 16.
In June of 1968 the NIMH established the Laboratory of Preclinical Pharmacology (LPP) under the leadership of Erminio Costa at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC. From its inception until 1985 more than 170 scientists produced over 800 scientific publications that largely influenced the direction of neuroscience research. Under Dr. Costa's scientific guidance LPP made numerous discoveries that contributed to the understanding of neuronal function and push the fledging field of neuroscience forward. Methods were developed to measure the turnover rate of catecholamines, serotonin, acetylcholine and GABA, and to assess the dynamic state of neuronal stores of peptides; the regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase activity was revealed; the molecular mechanisms underlying neurotransmitter receptor signaling and regulation were explored; the concept that opioid peptides function as neuromodulators in structures that are not involved in pain threshold regulation was proposed; the role of GABAergic transmission for the action of benzodiazepines was pioneered; the endogenous mechanisms operative in opiate tolerance were elucidated; and approaches to measure mRNA and evaluate its regulation were introduced. As a tribute to Dr. Costa, this article presents the initial journey and the many contributions to teaching and research that he made from 1963 to 1985, a period that I worked with him and call it "the golden years".
1968 年 6 月，NIMH 在华盛顿特区圣伊丽莎白医院由 Erminio Costa 领导下成立了临床前药理学实验室（LPP）。从成立到 1985 年，超过 170 名科学家发表了 800 多篇科学论文，这些论文在很大程度上影响了神经科学研究的方向。在 Costa 博士的科学指导下，LPP 做出了许多发现，有助于理解神经元功能，并推动新兴的神经科学领域向前发展。开发了测量儿茶酚胺、血清素、乙酰胆碱和 GABA 周转率的方法，并评估肽神经元储存的动态状态；揭示了酪氨酸羟化酶活性的调节机制；探索了神经递质受体信号和调节的分子机制；提出了阿片样肽作为不在疼痛阈值调节范围内的结构中的神经调质的作用的概念；开创了 GABA 能传递对苯二氮䓬类药物作用的作用的先河；阐明了阿片类药物耐受中的内源性机制；并引入了测量 mRNA 及其调节的方法。为了向 Costa 博士致敬，本文介绍了他从 1963 年到 1985 年的教学和研究的初步历程和许多贡献，这是我与他一起工作的时期，我称之为“黄金岁月”。
