Methods in psychobiology, Vol. 1

BOOK REVlUWS

11 1

tudinal) fiber c o m p o n e n t still remains obscure, the dark Psychopharmacology and aging. - - C. Eisdorder and W. E. staining fibers, interlacing and crossing it at a more or less Fann (Editors). (Plenum, New York, 1973, 253 p., $12.50). sharp angle, are all thalamo-cortical projections from the anterior nuclei, coursing around the lateral angle of the The proceedings of a symposium held at Duke University in ventricle through the callosal radiations to the cingulate May, 1972 on this subject are summarized in this monograph. cortex and forming their " e m a n a t i o n s " in the alba of the This is a most timely and important area of biology The book gyrus. They travel for some distance with the fibers of the is Vol. 6 of a series in 4dvances in Behavwral BuJh~.qv A distinguished panel of 35 scientists representing various cmgulum. Krleg regards the latter as an exclusively associabasic and clinical areas have contributed. The book is tion bundle between the hmbic and medml supralimb~c (parahmb~c} cortical areas. The cingulate cortex has no organized into 3 main sections : ( 1) Bases o f a psychopharmacology for aging; (2) Complications of drug use: and (3) descending projections. In the method of conceptual management, Krieg holds t:ast to the logic of the morpho- ' Issues in clinical m a n a g e m e n t of drugs. The first section has genesis of the brain preceding the myehnation and follows a primary neurochemical orientation with contrlbuUons on the t~me schedule and differential tinctorlal characteristics the brain biogenic amines, m o n o a m m e oxidase, cyclic A M P , a pituitary factor inhibiting thyroid and Interactions of of the thalamo-cortical (ascending) and of the cortical learning and m e m o r y with age. efferent (descending) projections and of the association The second section is concerned with dysklnesia in aging, fibers through the late fetal and early postnatal development pharmacological attempts to manage tardive dysklnesla, of the brain. In the brains of adults, the tinctorial differences affect changes with L-DOPA, abuse potential of mild analof various fiber systems of the hemispheric alba, and the gesics and clinical problems of drug treatment of the elderly. differences in the pattern of the "'grain" in different planes The third section is mainly clinical and covers a survey of of section, guided his explorations also in the normal adult drug effects upon cognitive function, memory loss and its cerebra The dissection of gross material and the study of possible relationship to c h r o m o s o m e changes, multiple the serial sections of the cerebra with circumscribed vascular system interactions, responses to psychotropic drugs, emoinfarcts and long postictal survival provided Important tional responses, antianxlety agents, patient management, ad&tlonal avenues to unravel the maze of the fiber systems psychoses, paranoid syndromes, affective disorders and uses in the alba of the brain. He derived from these extensive of antidepressants and electroshock. Each paper ~s wraten by studies a set of general laws governing the organization of an outstanding and well-known investigator. the fiber systems of the brain. These are broad laws opening A volume such as this is certainly welcome The book wide horizons for observation and thought. While some of covers a wide spectrum of drugs for the aged. If there are any the facts described are generally known, m u c h of Krieg's criticisms it is that one would like to see even more, especially data are new in substance and original in the mode of their a detailed discussion of the electroencephalographic and treatment. A few of these observations and the author's sleep disorders of the aged and possible methods of treatinterpretation of them are at variance with this reviewer's ment. The book is of value to electroencephalographers only understanding of them. Such is Krieg's proposition that the as background material. It is recommended that all medical medial dorsal nucleus sends in man, as it does in monkeys, libraries obtain this volume as well as those especially revola dense projection to the dorsolateral frontal cortex beyond ved in research in this area. Hopefully, this'monograph will the frontal opercular areas and adversive area 8. The encourage others to promote further studies of brain changes reviewer also does not feel prepared to accept Krieg's in the aged from a neurophysiological and further neuroconviction that the cingulate cortex " h a s no projections". chemical point of view. The problem of the polarity of conduction in the dark staining fibers of his juxta-caudate system still remains open EDWARD F DOMINO m this reviewer's opinion. Unwerstty oJ Mwhigan, Except for these reservations, Krieg's text and atlas are Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104 ( U.S.A ) replete with original and challenging new data on the structure and organization of the hemispheric alba. The style of the text is brisk and free of circumlocutions. The fundamental information the atlas contains and the beautiful design of Methods in psychobiology, Vol. I.--R. D. Myers (Ed.). this important publication, combined with its being a (Academic Press Inc., London, 1971, 376 p., ill., £6.00). limited edition, are bound to make the book a "rare b o o k " This very useful book is the work of 12 experienced authors item of the anatomical literature. The author acknowledges who participated, singly or in pairs, m the writing of its ten his debt of gratitude to Northwestern University for the chapters. It contributes significantly to the gradual closing support and place to work, with a pomtful remark that, "The of the gap which has existed since long ago between our olympian ideals of our great universities are not always knowledge of brain activity on the one hand and of the manifest m the expediencies practised by the Individuals in manifestations of the individual's behaviour on the other, authority". This reviewer, at least, cannot but agree. i.e., between neurophyslology and behaviouristic psychology. The book aids the reader to a more profound understanding PAUL I. YAKOVLEV of the brain-behaviour relations and offers a n u m b e r of Harvard Medical School, practical instructions and advices. 25 Shattuck Street, As seen from the headings of individual chapters ("Use Boston, Mass. 02115 (U.S.A.) of stereotaxic technique": "Recording changes in electrical

112 propernes in the brain": "The EEG"; "Electrical stimulation of the brain": "Methods for chemical stimulation of the brain": "Elementary histology for neurophysiologists', etc.) the analysis of the methods used in psychobiology covers a wide area. Nevertheless, the referee feels that it would have been extremely useful to complement the work with chapters dealing with some important subjects, such as the study of learning, memory, motivation, conditioning, discrimmanon, analysis of nutritional, sexual, aggressive, ecological and social behawour, autostimulation methods, etc. Hopefully, these subjects are going to be included in following volumes to be published. Individual methods are described in great detail so that even a beginner in a given field will find precise instructions M. J. Wayner's sophisticated introduction outlines the most Important principles of experiment planning 0t might have been useful to include also the single-variable principle). The introduction to the theory of measurements and statistics is convenient but insufficient for numerical elaboration and appraisal of the experiments. The chapter "General laboratory procedures" (R. D. Myers) contains a useful table surveying the pathology and therapy of laboratory animals. A very detailed study is presented in the chapter "Use of the stereotaxic techniques", written by L, J. Pellegrmo and Anna J. Cushman, who are also authors of an excellent stereotaxlc atlas of the rat brain, published in 1967. It contains, apart from the instructions, a comparison of the different stereotaxic atlases and co-ordinate systems currently m use. The bibliography includes 14 atlases concerning primates, 10 concerning dog and cat, 13 on rodents (rats and mice) and 16 dealing with other species. The collation of the various co-ordinate systems should have taken into account also another widely used system, employing bregma as stereotaxlc zero (J. S. Krieg et al. 1967). It is to be regretted that the authors did not attempt to introduce a consistent and unifying stereotaxlc terminology. The reader thus encounters, within one chapter, synonymous expressions or almost identical terms denoting different space elements (for instance instrument zero, stereotaxic zero, arbitrary horizontal zero plane, empirically determined horizontal plane of the stereotaxlc zero, instrument horizontal zero, etc.). The chapter concerned with neurosurgical operanons written by Patricia M. Meyer and D. R. Meyer has an entirely modern approach, containing, e.g., the new method of Woolsey (1970)~neodecortication by interrupting the blood supply. R. Cooper's essay devoted to EEG contains all principal factors significant in EEG and an analysis of electrode properties, the knowledge of which is essential for every electrophysiologist (electrode potential, polarization, DC resistance, combined impedance, metal choice, etc.). The following chapter (R. D. Myers) deals with the methods of chemical

BOOK REVIEWS brain stimulation. It even includes a part concerning chemoelectrodes which render possible combined chemical and electrical tissue stimulation. The reader will also appreciate a critical table comparing the advantages and shortcomings of the apphcation of a chemical substance m the form of solution or a crystal. Some parts of the book, e.g., the concluding chapter by J. L. Falk on the experimental approach to the problems of food and water intake, deal also with the logical terminology; they form an integral part of the book despite their rather polemic character. Most chapters feature an important subchapter--interpretation of data. Another detail to be appreciated is that each chapter is concluded by its own bibliography. The reader will also welcome the Appendix to individual chapters containing useful additional information, e.g., lists of some manufacturers of instruments, accessories, chemicals and other appliances essential for the experimental work described in the chapter. The 356 pages of the book feature 103 figures, diagrams and schemes. The illustrations could be even more abundant, in v~ew of the instructive character of the book. Although the title and the preface emphasize the psychobiological approach, a less experienced reader should be informed that most of the described techniques are not exclusively psychobiological but shared with other fields, e.g., neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology, clinical neurology, neurosurgery, neurohistology and others The book is valuable not only as an instructive work (a "how-to" book) but is also of definite scientific value as a document of the contemporary modem methods m brain research. This review is most appropriately concluded by the hint of the authors of one of the chapters on how the book and the instructions contained therein should be taken: "'.... We suspect that most accomplished surgeons (and this holds not only for surgeons) who chance to read it will think that there are much better ways to carry out at least some of the methods we describe. Surgeons, like artists, commonly discover that certain tools are better in their hands than are other tools which are the favorites of perhaps the majority of other operators .... We thus feel sure that anyone who starts with the techniques described in this discussion will soon be changing them to suit his own style and will only then be happy in his work." J. ~TERC

Institute of Physiology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czechoslovakia)