STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF MONOAMINE AND ACETYLCHOLINE NEURON SYSTEMS IN THE RAT CNS - L. Descarries and N. Mechawar -- BRAIN NEURONS PARTLY EXPRESSING MONOAMINERGIC PHENOTYPE: DISTRIBUTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE IN NORM AND PATHOLOGY - M. V. Ugrumov -- IN VIVO IMAGING OF NEUROTRANSMITTER SYSTEMS WITH PET - B. Gulyás, C. Halldin, and B. Mazière -- SYNAPTIC AND NONSYNAPTIC RELEASE OF TRANSMITTERS - E. S. Vizi and B. Lendvai -- CHOLINERGIC TRASMISSION - B. Lendvai -- MOLECULAR GENETICS OF BRAIN NORADRENERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION - R. Meloni -- DOPAMINE AND THE DOPAMINERGIC SYSTEMS OF THE BRAIN - L. G. Harsing, Jr -- 5-HYDROXYTRYPTAMINE IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM - A. C. Dutton and N. M. Barnes -- GABA NEUROTRANSMISSION: AN OVERVIEW - A. Schousboe and H. S. Waagepetersen -- ATP-MEDIATED SIGNALING IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM - B. Sperlágh -- ADENOSINE NEUROMODULATION AND NEUROPROTECTION - R. A. Cunha -- REGULATION OF AMPA RECEPTORS BY METABOTROPIC RECEPTORS AND RECEPTOR TYROSINE KINASES: MECHANISMS AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ROLES - A. L. Carvalho, M. V. Caldeira, A. R. Gomes, A. P. Carvalho, and A. B. Duarte -- TAURINE IN NEUROTRANSMISSION - P. Saransaari and S. S. Oja -- THE ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM - B. S. Basavarajappa, R. Yalamanchili, T. B. Cooper, and B. L. Hungund -- E PROSTANOID RECEPTORS IN BRAIN PHYSIOLOGY AND DISEASE - C. D. Keene, P. J. Cimino, R. M. Breyer, K. S. Montine, and T. J. Montine -- NITRIC OXIDE AND OTHER DIFFUSIBLE MESSENGERS - J. P. Kiss -- MOLECULAR ORGANIZATION AND REGULATION OF GLUTAMATE RECEPTORS IN DEVELOPING AND ADULT MAMMALIAN CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEMS - E. Molnár -- SYMPATHETIC AND PEPTIDERGIC INNERVATION: MAJOR ROLE AT THE NEURAL-IMMUNE INTERFACE - I. J. Elenkov, A. Tagliani. The brain is the organ that collects information from the environment, processes and stores the information, and generates behavior as and when needed. In essence, the brain makes us who we are. For this reason, understanding the biology of brain function is a great challenge and a major goal of modern science. The brain is one of the last great frontiers in science, and the unraveling of its mysteries is comparable in complexity to efforts in space exploration. A fundamental goal of neuroscience is to understand how neurons generate behavior and the pathophysiology of different mental and neurological diseases. This requires, among other things, information about where these neurons are located, how they are connected, and how they communicate with each other in various physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Our aim is to describe recent discoveries about the basic operations of the brain and to provide an introduction to the adaptations for specific types of information processing.