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Chemical Mutagenesis in Mammals and Man
232
BOOK REVIEWS
The first of the two main sections of the book deals with techniques and methods of analysis, including spectrophotometry, fluorometry, mass spectrometry, chromatography in its various forms, enzyme assays, bioassay, electrophoresis, countercurrent distribution, isotope dilution techniques and others. Of interest to the biologist, rather than to the analytical chemist, is the attention given to the applications of such techniques, principally to drugs and their metabolites. The emphasis on drugs results from the original design of this series as a major reference book for pharmacologists, but the utilization of the techniques by those concerned with pesticides, foods, food additives, environmental pollutants and so on is widespread. Those working in these fields, too, will therefore ilnd this volume extremely useful. The second section deals with the present status of drug metabolism. The mechanisms involved are well covered, and although there is considerable selection, inevitable in any book where different authors are responsible for individual chapters, the metabolism of a large number of different types of compound is surveyed. This part will provide a valuable source of information for those concerned with the metabolism of foreign compounds. Appropriately, the first of these chapters has been contributed by Professor R. T. Williams, whose Detoxication Mechanisms has been a standard work of reference for so long. In general, the grouping together of analytical techniques and metabolic data in one volume is a convenient arrangement. At least some of the authors have succeeded in preventing their chapters from becoming a series of referenced statements, an approach so common in modern review publications. This has resulted in a high degree of readability, which enables the book to be used as an advanced text in addition to fulfilling its major purpose as a work of reference.
Chemical Mutagens. Environmental Effects on Biological Systems. By L. Fishbein, W. G. Flamm and H. L. Falk. Academic Press, New York, 1970. pp. xi q- 364. $18.50. Chemical Mutagenesis in Mammals and Man. Edited by F. Vogel and G. Rrhrborn. SpringerVerlag, Berlin, 1970. pp. xiv -F 519. DM 124. The possibility that man may be jeopardizing the future of his own species is a concept guaranteed to raise its share of hysteria. The arrival of two new books on this subject, both aiming to take a balanced look at mutagenesis as it affects man, is therefore extremely welcome. Equally welcome is the discovery that neither volume fails to discuss the thorny subject of mutagenesis testing and its extrapolation to man. Chemical Mutagens assumes only a basic knowledge of molecular biology in its readers and the early chapters are therefore devoted to a description of the structure and function of DNA and the mechanism of chemically-induced mutation. In an effort to cover such a vast subject in somewhat limited space, some clarity has been lost but the experienced reader will find this a useful and mutagenetically orientated revision of the subject. The chapter reviewing the currently available test systems for detecting mutagens emphasizes the basic differences between those involving bacteriophages, bacteria and fungi, with their inherent advantages of speed, large numbers and relative ease of detection of the mutants, and those using higher animals with separate germ cells and physical and biochemical methods of dealing with foreign compounds. The second half of the book is given over to a less readable but extremely valuable summary and description of the chemical mutagens known to man
BOOK REVIEWS
233
at present. The comprehensive text and bibliography covers the whole field of chemical mutagenesis including drugs, pesticides and food additives such as cyclamate, caffeine, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and nitrous acid and nitrites. Chemical Mutagenesis in Mammals and Man represents the proceedings of a symposium on mutation research held in Mainz in October 1969. The 30 contributions are therefore aimed at research workers already conversant with the subject. Three introductory chapters are followed by a detailed and critical description of research methods currently used in mutagenicity testing and the significance of the results obtained from them. Of particular interest is the chapter describing the relatively new technique of the host-mediated assay, which incorporates many of the advantages of the eukaryotic and prokaryotic testing methods by scoring the mutation rate of bacteria injected into the intraperitoneal cavity of a mammal treated by some other route with a possible mutagen. It is also reassuring to see a volume concerned with biological matters prepared to discuss the statistical methods of its science. Furthermore, unlike some symposium reports, this book covers the whole of the field with which it is concerned and which is implied in its title, and it also contains a full subject index. The editors have clearly taken considerable care to produce a book rather than a collection of scientific papers. It is to be hoped that these two volumes will be read by all those engaged in mutagenicity testing. Perhaps then some of the more unrealistic claims which are periodically made against environmental compounds will cease.
Calcium and Cellular Function. A Symposium on Calcium and Cellular Function. Edited by A. W. Cuthbert. Biological Council. The Co-ordinating Committee for Symposia on Drug Action. Macmillan & Co. Ltd., London, 1970. pp. xiii -I- 301. £5.50.
This volume brings together the contributions presented at a symposium held in London in 1969 and concerned with the important role of calcium in biological systems. The contributors, who came from several countries, approached this complex subject from widely differing standpoints. Like the symposium, the book is divided into four sections dealing, in turn, with the chemistry of calcium and related metals, the action of calcium at cell surfaces, membrane permeability to and ionic transport of calcium and, finally, calcium's role in cellular function. Each section ends with the brief discussion which followed the presentation of the papers included therein. The initial section is concerned with the chemistry of the element and its occurrence in nature and compares its reactions with those of other alkaline earth metals. Particular consideration is given to those properties of calcium especially relevant to its participation in biological systems. As in layer sections, the points made are illustrated mainly by reference to experiments on isolated organs cultured in vitro. Considerable emphasis is placed on the kinetics of the reactions considered and the physicochemical factors influencing them. Cells and epithelia from a wide range of animals, including barnacles, echinoderms and vertebrates, are used to illustrate the actions of calcium in connexion with cell surfaces and cell membranes, and again related divalent metal ions are considered alongside calcium. The papers in the two sections concerned with these topics are essentially biochemical. The human erythrocyte is used to illustrate the movement of calcium ions across a cell membrane, and the physicochemical factors are carefully discussed. Sodium-calcium exchange across nerve-cell membranes and the mechanisms involved in the active transport
BOOK REVIEWS
The first of the two main sections of the book deals with techniques and methods of analysis, including spectrophotometry, fluorometry, mass spectrometry, chromatography in its various forms, enzyme assays, bioassay, electrophoresis, countercurrent distribution, isotope dilution techniques and others. Of interest to the biologist, rather than to the analytical chemist, is the attention given to the applications of such techniques, principally to drugs and their metabolites. The emphasis on drugs results from the original design of this series as a major reference book for pharmacologists, but the utilization of the techniques by those concerned with pesticides, foods, food additives, environmental pollutants and so on is widespread. Those working in these fields, too, will therefore ilnd this volume extremely useful. The second section deals with the present status of drug metabolism. The mechanisms involved are well covered, and although there is considerable selection, inevitable in any book where different authors are responsible for individual chapters, the metabolism of a large number of different types of compound is surveyed. This part will provide a valuable source of information for those concerned with the metabolism of foreign compounds. Appropriately, the first of these chapters has been contributed by Professor R. T. Williams, whose Detoxication Mechanisms has been a standard work of reference for so long. In general, the grouping together of analytical techniques and metabolic data in one volume is a convenient arrangement. At least some of the authors have succeeded in preventing their chapters from becoming a series of referenced statements, an approach so common in modern review publications. This has resulted in a high degree of readability, which enables the book to be used as an advanced text in addition to fulfilling its major purpose as a work of reference.
Chemical Mutagens. Environmental Effects on Biological Systems. By L. Fishbein, W. G. Flamm and H. L. Falk. Academic Press, New York, 1970. pp. xi q- 364. $18.50. Chemical Mutagenesis in Mammals and Man. Edited by F. Vogel and G. Rrhrborn. SpringerVerlag, Berlin, 1970. pp. xiv -F 519. DM 124. The possibility that man may be jeopardizing the future of his own species is a concept guaranteed to raise its share of hysteria. The arrival of two new books on this subject, both aiming to take a balanced look at mutagenesis as it affects man, is therefore extremely welcome. Equally welcome is the discovery that neither volume fails to discuss the thorny subject of mutagenesis testing and its extrapolation to man. Chemical Mutagens assumes only a basic knowledge of molecular biology in its readers and the early chapters are therefore devoted to a description of the structure and function of DNA and the mechanism of chemically-induced mutation. In an effort to cover such a vast subject in somewhat limited space, some clarity has been lost but the experienced reader will find this a useful and mutagenetically orientated revision of the subject. The chapter reviewing the currently available test systems for detecting mutagens emphasizes the basic differences between those involving bacteriophages, bacteria and fungi, with their inherent advantages of speed, large numbers and relative ease of detection of the mutants, and those using higher animals with separate germ cells and physical and biochemical methods of dealing with foreign compounds. The second half of the book is given over to a less readable but extremely valuable summary and description of the chemical mutagens known to man
BOOK REVIEWS
233
at present. The comprehensive text and bibliography covers the whole field of chemical mutagenesis including drugs, pesticides and food additives such as cyclamate, caffeine, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and nitrous acid and nitrites. Chemical Mutagenesis in Mammals and Man represents the proceedings of a symposium on mutation research held in Mainz in October 1969. The 30 contributions are therefore aimed at research workers already conversant with the subject. Three introductory chapters are followed by a detailed and critical description of research methods currently used in mutagenicity testing and the significance of the results obtained from them. Of particular interest is the chapter describing the relatively new technique of the host-mediated assay, which incorporates many of the advantages of the eukaryotic and prokaryotic testing methods by scoring the mutation rate of bacteria injected into the intraperitoneal cavity of a mammal treated by some other route with a possible mutagen. It is also reassuring to see a volume concerned with biological matters prepared to discuss the statistical methods of its science. Furthermore, unlike some symposium reports, this book covers the whole of the field with which it is concerned and which is implied in its title, and it also contains a full subject index. The editors have clearly taken considerable care to produce a book rather than a collection of scientific papers. It is to be hoped that these two volumes will be read by all those engaged in mutagenicity testing. Perhaps then some of the more unrealistic claims which are periodically made against environmental compounds will cease.
Calcium and Cellular Function. A Symposium on Calcium and Cellular Function. Edited by A. W. Cuthbert. Biological Council. The Co-ordinating Committee for Symposia on Drug Action. Macmillan & Co. Ltd., London, 1970. pp. xiii -I- 301. £5.50.
This volume brings together the contributions presented at a symposium held in London in 1969 and concerned with the important role of calcium in biological systems. The contributors, who came from several countries, approached this complex subject from widely differing standpoints. Like the symposium, the book is divided into four sections dealing, in turn, with the chemistry of calcium and related metals, the action of calcium at cell surfaces, membrane permeability to and ionic transport of calcium and, finally, calcium's role in cellular function. Each section ends with the brief discussion which followed the presentation of the papers included therein. The initial section is concerned with the chemistry of the element and its occurrence in nature and compares its reactions with those of other alkaline earth metals. Particular consideration is given to those properties of calcium especially relevant to its participation in biological systems. As in layer sections, the points made are illustrated mainly by reference to experiments on isolated organs cultured in vitro. Considerable emphasis is placed on the kinetics of the reactions considered and the physicochemical factors influencing them. Cells and epithelia from a wide range of animals, including barnacles, echinoderms and vertebrates, are used to illustrate the actions of calcium in connexion with cell surfaces and cell membranes, and again related divalent metal ions are considered alongside calcium. The papers in the two sections concerned with these topics are essentially biochemical. The human erythrocyte is used to illustrate the movement of calcium ions across a cell membrane, and the physicochemical factors are carefully discussed. Sodium-calcium exchange across nerve-cell membranes and the mechanisms involved in the active transport