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Heart Muscle: Ultrastructural studies
199
Heart Muscle: Ultrastructural Studies Visvan Navaratnam Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New ISBN O-521-24965-1
York, 1987; 213 pp.; E27.50, $49.50;
In a recent issue of the Journal (vol. 16, p. 219, 1987) I reviewed the excellent volume of the “Handbook of Microscopic Anatomy” devoted to “Cardiac Muscle”. I gave the book my most sincere approbation. Now I have before me a book of comparable quality devoted to the same subject but quite different in its approach and format. The “Handbook” was edited by an excellent Australian team and illustrated largely with their own work but supplemented, where necessary, with exquisite micrographs solicited from their friends and colleagues. “Heart Muscle” is unequivocally the expression of one man’s devotion of his anatomic researches to the study of the microscopic anatomy of the heart. Vis Navaratnam has been publishing first class work concerned with cardiac fine structure for as long as I have been involved in the topic. He has now gathered together his works and distilled them carefully into this brief but all-encompassing review. The result is a short and readable book that tells us all we need to know concerning the microscopic structure of the heart. As those of us who know his work would expect, the book is beautifully illustrated. The references are carefully selected so that each cited is important. Although containing only eight chapters, each is important for the clinical cardiologist, particularly those concerned with research. Navaratnam opens with an account of the ultrastructure of the developing heart in the mouse. He follows with chapters devoted to the typical cell, its connexions with adjacent cells, and its contents in terms of T-tubules, sarcoplasmic reticulum and endogenous substrates. The latter chapter includes an important discussion of the effect of ischaemia on the structure of the myocardial cell. The next chapter is concerned with atria1 specific granules, now known to be of major clinical importance since they excrete substances such as atria1 natriuretic factor. As Navaratnam discusses, the granules are not confined to the atria1 cells despite their name. The chapter which follows is of equal significance to the clinician, being concerned with the ultrastructural changes observed in ageing cells. The book concludes with a discussion of cardiac innervation, introducing the reader to recent studies which show that there are more nerves in the heart than ones which can simplistically be considered as cholinergic and adrenergic. This is a splendid synthesis of a lifetime’s work. Navaratnam is to be congratulated on his achievement. At the bargain price of E27.50, this book should be on the shelf of every serious cardiologist.
Dept. of Paediatrics Cardiothoracic Institute Brompton Hospital London SW3 6HP. U.K.
* European Editor, International Journal of Cardiology
Robert
H. Anderson
*
Heart Muscle: Ultrastructural Studies Visvan Navaratnam Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New ISBN O-521-24965-1
York, 1987; 213 pp.; E27.50, $49.50;
In a recent issue of the Journal (vol. 16, p. 219, 1987) I reviewed the excellent volume of the “Handbook of Microscopic Anatomy” devoted to “Cardiac Muscle”. I gave the book my most sincere approbation. Now I have before me a book of comparable quality devoted to the same subject but quite different in its approach and format. The “Handbook” was edited by an excellent Australian team and illustrated largely with their own work but supplemented, where necessary, with exquisite micrographs solicited from their friends and colleagues. “Heart Muscle” is unequivocally the expression of one man’s devotion of his anatomic researches to the study of the microscopic anatomy of the heart. Vis Navaratnam has been publishing first class work concerned with cardiac fine structure for as long as I have been involved in the topic. He has now gathered together his works and distilled them carefully into this brief but all-encompassing review. The result is a short and readable book that tells us all we need to know concerning the microscopic structure of the heart. As those of us who know his work would expect, the book is beautifully illustrated. The references are carefully selected so that each cited is important. Although containing only eight chapters, each is important for the clinical cardiologist, particularly those concerned with research. Navaratnam opens with an account of the ultrastructure of the developing heart in the mouse. He follows with chapters devoted to the typical cell, its connexions with adjacent cells, and its contents in terms of T-tubules, sarcoplasmic reticulum and endogenous substrates. The latter chapter includes an important discussion of the effect of ischaemia on the structure of the myocardial cell. The next chapter is concerned with atria1 specific granules, now known to be of major clinical importance since they excrete substances such as atria1 natriuretic factor. As Navaratnam discusses, the granules are not confined to the atria1 cells despite their name. The chapter which follows is of equal significance to the clinician, being concerned with the ultrastructural changes observed in ageing cells. The book concludes with a discussion of cardiac innervation, introducing the reader to recent studies which show that there are more nerves in the heart than ones which can simplistically be considered as cholinergic and adrenergic. This is a splendid synthesis of a lifetime’s work. Navaratnam is to be congratulated on his achievement. At the bargain price of E27.50, this book should be on the shelf of every serious cardiologist.
Dept. of Paediatrics Cardiothoracic Institute Brompton Hospital London SW3 6HP. U.K.
* European Editor, International Journal of Cardiology
Robert
H. Anderson
*