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Hormones: from molecules to disease
GENERALANDCOMPARATIVE
ENDOCRINOLOGY
82,329-330(1991)
BOOK REVIEWS New York/London, 1990.673 pp., 21 pages of index, 645 illustrations. $62.50, soft cover.
The Thyroid Gland. Edited by M. A. GREER. Raven Press, New York, 1990. 594 pp. including index. $95.
Many of the books reviewed in this section of General and Comparative Endocrinology are useful, but only few, like this one, outstanding. The two editors have assembled an exemplary group of authors, and, apparently, they remained close to them in producing a book of uniform high quality. The book must have been a long time in conception and realization, because two of the authors, Dorothy Krieger and Serge Lissitzky were deceased in 1985 and 1986, and their sections were completed and brought up to date by others. One of the guiding dicta in the writing of the text clearly was to use as many illustrations as necessary to provide visualization of the principles being explained. There are 645 illustrations, almost one for every page of text, many printed in contrasting shades and colors. Another principle, particularly in sections devoted to molecular mechanisms, was to provide separate short asidelike illustrated essays on such necessary topics as transcription, calculation of receptor properties, receptor kinetics, etc. The first chapter, by Baulieu, is the longest (171 pages) and essentially it forms the heart of the volume. It is entitled “Hormones: A Complex Communication Network”. It lists, defines, and describes hormones, how they are distributed, and how they act. It draws its examples from the entire field of endocrinology and thus, not only does it introduce the remaining twelve chapters, but it also binds them by providing their common ground and their interactions. It might be possible, in fact, to use this chapter alone as a text for a fairly comprehensive course in endocrinology that stresses the cell level of the field. For the
The focus of this book is the thyroid gland, its structure, function, and regulation. Comparative endocrinologists will be pleased to see the opening chapter “Phylogeny and Ontogeny of the Thyroid Gland” by Lars Ericson and Gunnar Fredericksson. It concerns an area that has not had much attention in reviews, the structure and functional thyroid equivalence of endostyles of a variety of protochordates. It provides enough information for some useful insights into the probable evolution of vertebrate thyroid glands and thyroid function. The remainder of the book is devoted to consideration of mammalian thyroidology and it closes with five chapters that deal with clinical subjects. There are excellent chapters on thyroidal cytophysiology, iodine metabolism and thyroxinogenesis, thyroglobulin synthesis, TRH, plasma thyroid hormone binding proteins, intracellular hormonal mechanism of action, T,-deiodination, TX-T, receptors, and antithyroid drug actions. Each of these topics is thoroughly treated and documented with extensive bibliographies. This is certainly a book that should be available to anyone working or interested in the field of thyroid physiology. The only topic that is missing, regrettably, is thyroid regulation by TSH and its receptors. This is even more difficult to understand since TRH is given a full chapter, and a variety of factors other than TSH that affect thyroid function also are given considerable space. Hormones: From Molecules to Disease. Edited by E. E. BAULIEU AND P. A. KELLY. Chapman & Hall, 329
0016~6480/91 $1.50 Copyright 0 1991 by Academic rl,, -,“I.,* ,.Cve..--l ..^t: .- ‘-
Press. Inc r
330
BOOK
REVIEWS
comparativeendocrinologist, this chapter chapter contains a lo-pagetreatise on ends satisfactorily in a section subtitled “Comparative and evolutionary aspects of endocrinology.” This section considers an interesting question: “Which evolved first, hormones or receptors?” but it avoids a definitive answer. The remaining chapters are organized primarily by hormonal group (e.g., growth hormones and prolactin, glycoprotein hormones, thyroid hormones, calcium regulatory hormones), but chapter 2, devoted to the hypothalamus-pituitary system, necessarily is partly an anatomical consideration. It contains as an “aside” a section on nerve cells and their neurotransmitters. In the chapter on growth hormone and prolactin, the aside deals with peptide growth factors. The thyroid hormone chapter (Lissitzky) has an adequate morphological introduction and even a brief consideration of thyroid evolution. Most of this chapter deals with thyroxinogenesis, hormonal deiodination, thyroglobulin, hormone transport, and cellular level of action. As an aside this
“Gene structure and control of transcription,” basic for understanding the cellular level of action of thyroid and steroid hormones . Undoubtedly this book will become a popular item for personal libraries of endocrinologists, and it should be useful as a textbook for endocrinology courses at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. It is somewhat deficient in morphology and in descriptions of hormonal integration at the system and organismal level. It addresses some clinical questions which should qualify it as a text in medical school courses. However, the high quality of the writing and the attention by the editors to readability and explicativeness will surely make it a popular book. A hard cover version has become available for libraries. The publishers should be congratulated for offering the book at such a low price, less than a penny per page. This is almost unprecedented at a time when technical books are priced from 25 to 75 cents per page.
ENDOCRINOLOGY
82,329-330(1991)
BOOK REVIEWS New York/London, 1990.673 pp., 21 pages of index, 645 illustrations. $62.50, soft cover.
The Thyroid Gland. Edited by M. A. GREER. Raven Press, New York, 1990. 594 pp. including index. $95.
Many of the books reviewed in this section of General and Comparative Endocrinology are useful, but only few, like this one, outstanding. The two editors have assembled an exemplary group of authors, and, apparently, they remained close to them in producing a book of uniform high quality. The book must have been a long time in conception and realization, because two of the authors, Dorothy Krieger and Serge Lissitzky were deceased in 1985 and 1986, and their sections were completed and brought up to date by others. One of the guiding dicta in the writing of the text clearly was to use as many illustrations as necessary to provide visualization of the principles being explained. There are 645 illustrations, almost one for every page of text, many printed in contrasting shades and colors. Another principle, particularly in sections devoted to molecular mechanisms, was to provide separate short asidelike illustrated essays on such necessary topics as transcription, calculation of receptor properties, receptor kinetics, etc. The first chapter, by Baulieu, is the longest (171 pages) and essentially it forms the heart of the volume. It is entitled “Hormones: A Complex Communication Network”. It lists, defines, and describes hormones, how they are distributed, and how they act. It draws its examples from the entire field of endocrinology and thus, not only does it introduce the remaining twelve chapters, but it also binds them by providing their common ground and their interactions. It might be possible, in fact, to use this chapter alone as a text for a fairly comprehensive course in endocrinology that stresses the cell level of the field. For the
The focus of this book is the thyroid gland, its structure, function, and regulation. Comparative endocrinologists will be pleased to see the opening chapter “Phylogeny and Ontogeny of the Thyroid Gland” by Lars Ericson and Gunnar Fredericksson. It concerns an area that has not had much attention in reviews, the structure and functional thyroid equivalence of endostyles of a variety of protochordates. It provides enough information for some useful insights into the probable evolution of vertebrate thyroid glands and thyroid function. The remainder of the book is devoted to consideration of mammalian thyroidology and it closes with five chapters that deal with clinical subjects. There are excellent chapters on thyroidal cytophysiology, iodine metabolism and thyroxinogenesis, thyroglobulin synthesis, TRH, plasma thyroid hormone binding proteins, intracellular hormonal mechanism of action, T,-deiodination, TX-T, receptors, and antithyroid drug actions. Each of these topics is thoroughly treated and documented with extensive bibliographies. This is certainly a book that should be available to anyone working or interested in the field of thyroid physiology. The only topic that is missing, regrettably, is thyroid regulation by TSH and its receptors. This is even more difficult to understand since TRH is given a full chapter, and a variety of factors other than TSH that affect thyroid function also are given considerable space. Hormones: From Molecules to Disease. Edited by E. E. BAULIEU AND P. A. KELLY. Chapman & Hall, 329
0016~6480/91 $1.50 Copyright 0 1991 by Academic rl,, -,“I.,* ,.Cve..--l ..^t: .- ‘-
Press. Inc r
330
BOOK
REVIEWS
comparativeendocrinologist, this chapter chapter contains a lo-pagetreatise on ends satisfactorily in a section subtitled “Comparative and evolutionary aspects of endocrinology.” This section considers an interesting question: “Which evolved first, hormones or receptors?” but it avoids a definitive answer. The remaining chapters are organized primarily by hormonal group (e.g., growth hormones and prolactin, glycoprotein hormones, thyroid hormones, calcium regulatory hormones), but chapter 2, devoted to the hypothalamus-pituitary system, necessarily is partly an anatomical consideration. It contains as an “aside” a section on nerve cells and their neurotransmitters. In the chapter on growth hormone and prolactin, the aside deals with peptide growth factors. The thyroid hormone chapter (Lissitzky) has an adequate morphological introduction and even a brief consideration of thyroid evolution. Most of this chapter deals with thyroxinogenesis, hormonal deiodination, thyroglobulin, hormone transport, and cellular level of action. As an aside this
“Gene structure and control of transcription,” basic for understanding the cellular level of action of thyroid and steroid hormones . Undoubtedly this book will become a popular item for personal libraries of endocrinologists, and it should be useful as a textbook for endocrinology courses at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. It is somewhat deficient in morphology and in descriptions of hormonal integration at the system and organismal level. It addresses some clinical questions which should qualify it as a text in medical school courses. However, the high quality of the writing and the attention by the editors to readability and explicativeness will surely make it a popular book. A hard cover version has become available for libraries. The publishers should be congratulated for offering the book at such a low price, less than a penny per page. This is almost unprecedented at a time when technical books are priced from 25 to 75 cents per page.