Biochemical and Clinical Aspects of Neuropeptides: Synthesis, Processing, and Gene Structure covers the proceedings of the Fifth Conference on Macromolecular Synthesis: Biochemical and Clinical Aspects of Neuropeptides, held in Blankenese, Hamburg, Germany. This book is composed of seven parts encompassing 23 chapters, and begins with an introduction of the proteolytic mechanisms involved in proprotein processing, their intracellular localization, and their roles in generating a diverse assortment of secreted products in a variety of neuroendocrine cells. Part I describes the structure, synthesis, biochemical aspects, gene expression, and receptor selectivity of opioid peptides. Parts II and III focus on the isolation, structure, function, and genetic linkage of neuropeptides. The remaining parts explore the posttranslational processing, regulation, metabolism, biosynthesis, and gene expression of these neuropeptides, with a particular emphasis on their triggering mechanism and the control of release. Biochemists, neurologists, geneticists, and clinicians will greatly appreciate this book.