- Email: [email protected]
Cell-cultivation trip
145
book reviews
Cell-cultivat ion trip Methods in Molecular Biology, Volume 75: Basic Cell Culture Protocols (2nd edn)
edited by Jeffrey M. Pollard and John M. Walker, Humana Press, 1997. US$69.50 pbk, US$99.50 hbk (xiv + 489pages) I S B N 0 896 03384 8 (pbk), 0 896 03441 0 (hbk)
Seven years age), the Animal Cell Culture volume was published, comprising basic and specific techniques in the field of animalcell-culture technology. Particularly during the past decade, this scientific area has undergone tremendous advances and, in the meantime, applications have spread out over most parts o f the biotechnological disciplines. A completely revised edition of Volume 75 from the Methods in Molecular Biology series has now been published, entitled Basic Cell Culture Protocols, with the editors setting out to fi)cus more on the initial steps in cell culture than previously. Logically, the book starts with a chapter outlining the basic techniques for harvesting fibroblasts from embryos of pregnant mice and skin, and of maintaining them in in vitro culture, followed by several sections covering this method in more detail. Articles discussing specific cultivation methods for a few different cell types, derived from various organs, follow the introductory chapter. Biochemical and biomedical scientists involved in cell culture and cell expansion will find answers to most of the current problems and questions that
arise during the initial phase of
establishing a new technique. In addition, some important and relevant methods for cell cha:racterization are also considered, but not very comprehensively. Heterogeneity and the selection of particular contributions is always a pIoblem when chapters are pro vided by authors from various fields, and can unfortunately be seen in this volume, in which 65 authors were involved. However, nearly all of the articles are composed of four sections, namely the Introduction, Materials, Me~hods and Notes. A reference list, more-or-less comprehensive, closes every article and serves as a guide to further literature. Cell culture is a science that needs the experiment and, fortunately, this book can be used as a 'cookery course' for cell cultivation that can be used in the laboratory or for practical studies at university.
Although the authors point out in the preface their intention to omit from this volume wellestablished technologies like hylzridoma technology that have often been treated elsewhere, one chapter does deal with scaling up cultivations of suspension- and
anchorage-dependent animal cells, which is neither a basic technology nor exclusively published here. To a limited extent, the same goes for hollow-fibre culture, but this is a comparatively simple technique and is widely used for the rapid production of monoclonal antibodies. In addition, it has been accepted for long-term maintenance of primary hepatocytes, but this new, medically interesting, application is not treated in the book, even though the isolation of rat hepatocytes is comprehensively described in Section 11. Chapter 34 describes the production o f heterologous proteins using the baculovirus expression system, and it is obvious that this method, which is certainly a basic technique for the rapid production of proteins from genes of interest, is from a different point of view from all other chapters and the message o f the book. All things considered, including the suitability of a comb-bound book for use in the laboratory and the price ofUS$69.50, no less than 19 chapters concern the harvest and/or cultivation of many cell types including, among other things, hepatic, kidney, thyroid and blood ceils, making this volume valuable for people who want to be infornled about basic techniques in the cultivation of special cell types or who want to join the technology.
Roland Wagner Cell Culture Technology Department, Gesellschaft for Biotechnologische Forschung, Mascheroder Weg 1, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (Email: [email protected])
Publishers Please send details of books of interest to biotechnologiststo: TIBTECHBook Reviews, Elsevier Trends Journals, 68 Hills Road, Cambridge, UK CB1 1LA.
TIBTECHMARCH1998(VOL16)
book reviews
Cell-cultivat ion trip Methods in Molecular Biology, Volume 75: Basic Cell Culture Protocols (2nd edn)
edited by Jeffrey M. Pollard and John M. Walker, Humana Press, 1997. US$69.50 pbk, US$99.50 hbk (xiv + 489pages) I S B N 0 896 03384 8 (pbk), 0 896 03441 0 (hbk)
Seven years age), the Animal Cell Culture volume was published, comprising basic and specific techniques in the field of animalcell-culture technology. Particularly during the past decade, this scientific area has undergone tremendous advances and, in the meantime, applications have spread out over most parts o f the biotechnological disciplines. A completely revised edition of Volume 75 from the Methods in Molecular Biology series has now been published, entitled Basic Cell Culture Protocols, with the editors setting out to fi)cus more on the initial steps in cell culture than previously. Logically, the book starts with a chapter outlining the basic techniques for harvesting fibroblasts from embryos of pregnant mice and skin, and of maintaining them in in vitro culture, followed by several sections covering this method in more detail. Articles discussing specific cultivation methods for a few different cell types, derived from various organs, follow the introductory chapter. Biochemical and biomedical scientists involved in cell culture and cell expansion will find answers to most of the current problems and questions that
arise during the initial phase of
establishing a new technique. In addition, some important and relevant methods for cell cha:racterization are also considered, but not very comprehensively. Heterogeneity and the selection of particular contributions is always a pIoblem when chapters are pro vided by authors from various fields, and can unfortunately be seen in this volume, in which 65 authors were involved. However, nearly all of the articles are composed of four sections, namely the Introduction, Materials, Me~hods and Notes. A reference list, more-or-less comprehensive, closes every article and serves as a guide to further literature. Cell culture is a science that needs the experiment and, fortunately, this book can be used as a 'cookery course' for cell cultivation that can be used in the laboratory or for practical studies at university.
Although the authors point out in the preface their intention to omit from this volume wellestablished technologies like hylzridoma technology that have often been treated elsewhere, one chapter does deal with scaling up cultivations of suspension- and
anchorage-dependent animal cells, which is neither a basic technology nor exclusively published here. To a limited extent, the same goes for hollow-fibre culture, but this is a comparatively simple technique and is widely used for the rapid production of monoclonal antibodies. In addition, it has been accepted for long-term maintenance of primary hepatocytes, but this new, medically interesting, application is not treated in the book, even though the isolation of rat hepatocytes is comprehensively described in Section 11. Chapter 34 describes the production o f heterologous proteins using the baculovirus expression system, and it is obvious that this method, which is certainly a basic technique for the rapid production of proteins from genes of interest, is from a different point of view from all other chapters and the message o f the book. All things considered, including the suitability of a comb-bound book for use in the laboratory and the price ofUS$69.50, no less than 19 chapters concern the harvest and/or cultivation of many cell types including, among other things, hepatic, kidney, thyroid and blood ceils, making this volume valuable for people who want to be infornled about basic techniques in the cultivation of special cell types or who want to join the technology.
Roland Wagner Cell Culture Technology Department, Gesellschaft for Biotechnologische Forschung, Mascheroder Weg 1, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (Email: [email protected])
Publishers Please send details of books of interest to biotechnologiststo: TIBTECHBook Reviews, Elsevier Trends Journals, 68 Hills Road, Cambridge, UK CB1 1LA.
TIBTECHMARCH1998(VOL16)