Julius Axelrod: Breakthroughs in Neuroscience.

AXELROD, Julius, 1912-2004; KETY, Seymour Solomon, 1915-2000; NOBEL Prize winners; NEUROTRANSMITTERS; MENTAL illness treatment; SYMPATHETIC nervous system; NEURAL transmission; FLUOXETINE

The later years and legacy of Julius Axelrod are discussed. Building on the work of other scientists, including Seymour Kety, he demonstrated the chemical and biological basis of mental illness. Axelrod won a Nobel prize along with two other scientists, von Euler and Katz, for the discovery of norepinephrine's function and its location at the nerve endings. Eventually, drugs such as Prozac were created that were designed to inhibit the re-uptake of certain neurotransmitters.