- Email: [email protected]
Phytochemistry of medicinal plants
291
model of cell differentiation where symmetry is lost after the first division. In this respect it is reminiscent of the situation of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis and of fruiting body development in myxobacteria such as Stigmatella aurantiaca. The corresponding review article is interesting and well written, and it will certainly induce biochemists to be interested in more global phenomena (as well as in genetics). One should therefore thank the editors for having accepted to publish this kind of work. The three other articles are more in the conventional style of the series. One should probably stress the importance of the review article on cytochrome oxidase, which spans more than 150 pages and makes references to almost 400 papers. This is a true sum that will be useful to all those who are interested in electron transfer. The only slight disappointment comes from the fact that references do not comprise the title of the papers quoted (this is true of all articles in this Advances series)? but this is probably not a major point.
covers the relaxation phenomenon using quasi-quantum-mechanical treatment and the density operator formalism. The author states that the major aim of the book is to provide a lucid treatment of basic NMR. In this he has largely succeeded. The book fills a gap in the market as it combines both theoretical and practical aspec~v of NMR. The information is presented systematically and logically and provides a sufficient number of references to give the reader some suggestions for further readings. In conclusion, the author has produced a valuable text for chemist and biochemist using NMR in their research.
AL Lecocq
P h y t o c h e m i s t r y of Medicinal Plants, edited by JT Arnason, R Mata, JT Romgo, Plenum Press, 1995, $89.50, 364 p AL Lecocq
M u l t i d i m e n s i o n a l N M R I n Liquids, edited by FJM van de Ven, VCH, 1995, 399 p
This book provides theoretical coverage but also practical aspects of high resolution homonuclear and heteronuclear NMR experiments in liquids from I D to nD. This was necessary in its present form since the role that NMR plays in biochemistry or in chemistry has changed to large extent over these last years. It is of the utmost importance for an increasing number of scientists entering the field without deep knowledge in theoretical NMR but with a limited interest in quantum mechanics to reach a level of understanding of modern NMR allowing them to see how experiments work or to simply implement them on theirs own spectrometer. While keeping mathematics to a minimum throughout the book, theoretical sections are ;;~troduced in a succinct format in the appendices or at the end of each chapter. However, a key role is played by the spin product operator formalism based on quantum mechanics. To render the more advanced NMR pulse sequences accessible these are decomposed into a sequence o~ only a few basic building blocks which are described in special sections named NMR tools. It also covers the use of the new technohgy offered by the pulsed field gradients. The use of a unique sample, the tripeptide His-Vai-Tyr, to demonstrate the various NMR techniques is quite convenient and makes analysis simpler, especially when different pulse sequences are compared. The book opens with an attractive exposition of the basic principles as well as of the spectrometer itself. Then, van de Ven deals with chemical shift and spin-spin interactions while introducing the product operator formalism. This chapter finishes with a description of the nuclear Overhauser effect and the chemical exchange phenomenon. Follows the presentation of one- and two- dimensional NMR together with the introduction of a few basic building blocks in the NMR tools sections, emphasis is put on a few keyexperiments which are sufficient to understand the basic principles. Special emphasis is placed on the recent development of 2D homoand hetero-multidimensional NMR which has brought great improvements in sensitivity and selectivity. Then follows a chapter on the description of 3D experiments that consists of a concatenation of two 2D experiments. Finally, in the last chapter van de Ven
Edited in the Series Recent Advances in Phytochemistry, this book, entitled PhytochemisnT of Medicinal Plants, gathers lectures given at the Annual Meeting of the Phytochemical Society of North America, which was held in 1994 in Mexico and organized by Mexican and Canadian scientists. As many books dealing with this topic, one can find an up-todate review of the main subjects of phytochemical research, ie search for new immunostimulants, anticancer and anti-AIDS substances, as well as an overview of phytochemistry in Mexico, in Chile, etc, some aspects of dietary herbal plants, and chapters devoted to techniques (LC-MS analysis of mixtures, root cell culture, etc) The main interest of this book is to describe at the time of the Meeting an exact state of the research done in these various fields. Wagner from Munich explains how to find new hnmunostimulants and adaptogen molecules, for instance the triterpene saponins of ginseng, sitoindosides of Withamnia, or lectines from mistletoe. Pezzuto from Chicago, and Beutler from NCl/Maryland describe the program for searching new antitumor substances by using a panel of tumor cell lines and biochemical assays. Studies like brassinin structure-activity relationships, flavones and chalcones from Capparidaceae and Rutaceae are developed. In anti-HIV screening, 'nuisance compounds' are often detected as phorbol esters in Euphorbiaceae, or tannins in many plants. After description by Bye et al of traditional plants used in Mexico, considerations of endemicity and biodiversity are given by the authors. Pereda-Miranda presents research done on Hyptis species, on Ipomea and te de milagros, all being used in traditional pharmacopeia. Niemeyer from Santiago-de-Chile gives an outline of the Chilean plants, their biodiversity according to the various climates encountered in that country, as well as the chemical studies done on some of them, sometimes related to traditional use by local tribes. An interesting description by Cardenas, Mexico, of clerodane diterpenes isolated from Salvia spp is given, together with their biological properties. Mc Laughlin from Purdue University in USA restates the question of acetogenins of Annonaceae, physical, chemical and biological properties. Arguments given on the mechanism of action of acetogenins were particularly interesting. However, nothing is said about the possiMe interest of pharmaceu.'.ical companies.
292
Another category of molecule, ie sesquiterpene iactones are presented by Arnason and Pezzuto, with details of structure-activity relationships viz anti-SHT activity versus cytotoxicity. Vlietinck from Antwerp presents interesting work done on the wound healing properties of Sangre dei Drago and on antiviral flavones. Finally, a chapter written by the group of Hostettmann in Lausanne deals with the new techniques of LC-MS to analyze mixture of compounds not detectable by other means like UV. Examples are given with detection of ginkgolides, of artemisinine derivatives, of saponins of Swartzia of xanthones of Chironia. Comparisons were done between LC-MS and LC-UV. An unusual conference was given by Chapman and Johns on medicinal plants used in diet and their influence on human health. For example, the Maasai tribe in East Africa eat saponin-containing plants like Albizia anthelminthica, a plant containing a hypocholesterolemic eehinocystic acid glycoside. The main interest of this excellent book lies in the actualization of work done by well known teams in the field, but more of all on information given on plants from Central and South America. Such a book illustrates perfectly the new trends in search of active molecules in the plant kingdom, developments of new bioassays, of new techniques, with emphasis on bioactivity and biodiversity. T Sevenet
Magnetic Resonance in Perspective, edited by WS Brey, Academic Press, 1996, 681 p
This book is presented by the editor and the publishers of the Jour. nal of Magnetic Resonance as a source of information believed to represent contributions to the field that are of endless significance. All the contributions are chosen exclusively from the Journal of Magnetic Resonance of which the first issue was produced in 1969. NMR covers a wide area from solid state to imaging via high resolution but also chemistry, biology and physics as well as technical developments such as superconducting magnet and computing. For this reason the papers are arranged in chronological order. This has the advantage to give an indication of the way progress has spread from area to area of magnetic resonance. It is also perhaps because journals such as this one exist that cross-fertilization has occurred between various subfields. Thus, gradients which were first developed in imaging are used now in high-resolution liquid spectroscopy, solid state NMR applies multidimensional NMR, while magic angle spinning developed for solid state NMR is now used for obtaining high resolution spectra of liquid in small volumes. Of course, the view developed in that book is somehow biased by the fact that not all papers important in NMR are published exclusively in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance. Some important papers have been published in physics reviews. Although all the main subjects are covered in the book, it is however surprising that papers on solvent suppression are not reported here. This has been an ever lasting problem for a lot of spectroscopists and it still is. Probably the numerous papers published on the subject and the diversity of the approaches used to treat this problem did not allow to find one amongst all. As the author rightly says: "the book will give readers who have not lived through all this period a feeling for how the complex array
of art, science, and technology now available has developed, and that it will bring back some pleasant memories to those who began theirs careers early enough to have experienced the vast changes that have taken place in the past quarter century". AL Lecocq
Alpha-keto dehydrogenase complexes, edited by MS Patel, TE Roche and RA Harris, Birkh~iuser, 1995
Alpha-keto dehydrogenase complexes are of major importance in almost all organisms, and the number of articles published in a single year on pyruvate dehydrogenase is in the hundreds (for example the Entrez database of the NCBI comprises already 2 500 references on this single entry). The understanding of the organization, function and regulation of these multi-component enzymes is therefore of prime importance. This book gathers 21 contributions on all aspects of these complexes which play one of the crucial roles in metabolic compartmentalization in the cell. The combined efforts of the authors gives a view of these enzymes that goes from crystal structure, to function in diseases such as liver cirrhosis. In addition, many authors have thought it to be important to relate their structural or regulatory descriptions to genetics, so that it is possible for the reader to go from the biochemical literature to the literature dealing with genes and gene regulation. One important point in such books is the literature cited: here references are given in full, which is very useful, and they are fairly recent. However, as is often the case in such books (because of the delays introduced for publishing - - could we not hope to do better in the computers era ?) the references are not as up to date as one might have hoped for: the most recent ones are from 1994. But this book will be useful in central libraries, where scientists are expected to find information about the core of intermediary metabolism.
AL Lecocq
Foundations of m o d e r n biochemistry, Early adventures in biochemistry, edited by MG Ord, LA Stocken, 1995, 219 p
it may appear a paradox to entrust a psychoanalyst, someone confronted with madness in his daily practice, with the reviewing of such an important book in its field as Early adventures in biochemistry. Especially if this clinician is not a medical doctor, even though he has been working for 25 years in a ward of a psychiatric hospital. Although precisely we have come to the point where the new prospects in biochemistry, both in terms of neurobiology and genetics, at st~ke in the field of so called 'mental illnesses', make this kind . . . . .;.a;~,~A' . . . . . .r,,, . . . .' . . . . .-oe,, . . . . . . approach necessary, or even urgent. This first volume stands out as a remarkably clear, honest presentation of the first discoveries in biochemistry, both in terms of history and epistemology. Adventures in modern biochemistry date back to only two centuries, and one can consider that the state of this science m and probably the way it is thought and transmitted m fortunately mingles intimately with its history.
model of cell differentiation where symmetry is lost after the first division. In this respect it is reminiscent of the situation of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis and of fruiting body development in myxobacteria such as Stigmatella aurantiaca. The corresponding review article is interesting and well written, and it will certainly induce biochemists to be interested in more global phenomena (as well as in genetics). One should therefore thank the editors for having accepted to publish this kind of work. The three other articles are more in the conventional style of the series. One should probably stress the importance of the review article on cytochrome oxidase, which spans more than 150 pages and makes references to almost 400 papers. This is a true sum that will be useful to all those who are interested in electron transfer. The only slight disappointment comes from the fact that references do not comprise the title of the papers quoted (this is true of all articles in this Advances series)? but this is probably not a major point.
covers the relaxation phenomenon using quasi-quantum-mechanical treatment and the density operator formalism. The author states that the major aim of the book is to provide a lucid treatment of basic NMR. In this he has largely succeeded. The book fills a gap in the market as it combines both theoretical and practical aspec~v of NMR. The information is presented systematically and logically and provides a sufficient number of references to give the reader some suggestions for further readings. In conclusion, the author has produced a valuable text for chemist and biochemist using NMR in their research.
AL Lecocq
P h y t o c h e m i s t r y of Medicinal Plants, edited by JT Arnason, R Mata, JT Romgo, Plenum Press, 1995, $89.50, 364 p AL Lecocq
M u l t i d i m e n s i o n a l N M R I n Liquids, edited by FJM van de Ven, VCH, 1995, 399 p
This book provides theoretical coverage but also practical aspects of high resolution homonuclear and heteronuclear NMR experiments in liquids from I D to nD. This was necessary in its present form since the role that NMR plays in biochemistry or in chemistry has changed to large extent over these last years. It is of the utmost importance for an increasing number of scientists entering the field without deep knowledge in theoretical NMR but with a limited interest in quantum mechanics to reach a level of understanding of modern NMR allowing them to see how experiments work or to simply implement them on theirs own spectrometer. While keeping mathematics to a minimum throughout the book, theoretical sections are ;;~troduced in a succinct format in the appendices or at the end of each chapter. However, a key role is played by the spin product operator formalism based on quantum mechanics. To render the more advanced NMR pulse sequences accessible these are decomposed into a sequence o~ only a few basic building blocks which are described in special sections named NMR tools. It also covers the use of the new technohgy offered by the pulsed field gradients. The use of a unique sample, the tripeptide His-Vai-Tyr, to demonstrate the various NMR techniques is quite convenient and makes analysis simpler, especially when different pulse sequences are compared. The book opens with an attractive exposition of the basic principles as well as of the spectrometer itself. Then, van de Ven deals with chemical shift and spin-spin interactions while introducing the product operator formalism. This chapter finishes with a description of the nuclear Overhauser effect and the chemical exchange phenomenon. Follows the presentation of one- and two- dimensional NMR together with the introduction of a few basic building blocks in the NMR tools sections, emphasis is put on a few keyexperiments which are sufficient to understand the basic principles. Special emphasis is placed on the recent development of 2D homoand hetero-multidimensional NMR which has brought great improvements in sensitivity and selectivity. Then follows a chapter on the description of 3D experiments that consists of a concatenation of two 2D experiments. Finally, in the last chapter van de Ven
Edited in the Series Recent Advances in Phytochemistry, this book, entitled PhytochemisnT of Medicinal Plants, gathers lectures given at the Annual Meeting of the Phytochemical Society of North America, which was held in 1994 in Mexico and organized by Mexican and Canadian scientists. As many books dealing with this topic, one can find an up-todate review of the main subjects of phytochemical research, ie search for new immunostimulants, anticancer and anti-AIDS substances, as well as an overview of phytochemistry in Mexico, in Chile, etc, some aspects of dietary herbal plants, and chapters devoted to techniques (LC-MS analysis of mixtures, root cell culture, etc) The main interest of this book is to describe at the time of the Meeting an exact state of the research done in these various fields. Wagner from Munich explains how to find new hnmunostimulants and adaptogen molecules, for instance the triterpene saponins of ginseng, sitoindosides of Withamnia, or lectines from mistletoe. Pezzuto from Chicago, and Beutler from NCl/Maryland describe the program for searching new antitumor substances by using a panel of tumor cell lines and biochemical assays. Studies like brassinin structure-activity relationships, flavones and chalcones from Capparidaceae and Rutaceae are developed. In anti-HIV screening, 'nuisance compounds' are often detected as phorbol esters in Euphorbiaceae, or tannins in many plants. After description by Bye et al of traditional plants used in Mexico, considerations of endemicity and biodiversity are given by the authors. Pereda-Miranda presents research done on Hyptis species, on Ipomea and te de milagros, all being used in traditional pharmacopeia. Niemeyer from Santiago-de-Chile gives an outline of the Chilean plants, their biodiversity according to the various climates encountered in that country, as well as the chemical studies done on some of them, sometimes related to traditional use by local tribes. An interesting description by Cardenas, Mexico, of clerodane diterpenes isolated from Salvia spp is given, together with their biological properties. Mc Laughlin from Purdue University in USA restates the question of acetogenins of Annonaceae, physical, chemical and biological properties. Arguments given on the mechanism of action of acetogenins were particularly interesting. However, nothing is said about the possiMe interest of pharmaceu.'.ical companies.
292
Another category of molecule, ie sesquiterpene iactones are presented by Arnason and Pezzuto, with details of structure-activity relationships viz anti-SHT activity versus cytotoxicity. Vlietinck from Antwerp presents interesting work done on the wound healing properties of Sangre dei Drago and on antiviral flavones. Finally, a chapter written by the group of Hostettmann in Lausanne deals with the new techniques of LC-MS to analyze mixture of compounds not detectable by other means like UV. Examples are given with detection of ginkgolides, of artemisinine derivatives, of saponins of Swartzia of xanthones of Chironia. Comparisons were done between LC-MS and LC-UV. An unusual conference was given by Chapman and Johns on medicinal plants used in diet and their influence on human health. For example, the Maasai tribe in East Africa eat saponin-containing plants like Albizia anthelminthica, a plant containing a hypocholesterolemic eehinocystic acid glycoside. The main interest of this excellent book lies in the actualization of work done by well known teams in the field, but more of all on information given on plants from Central and South America. Such a book illustrates perfectly the new trends in search of active molecules in the plant kingdom, developments of new bioassays, of new techniques, with emphasis on bioactivity and biodiversity. T Sevenet
Magnetic Resonance in Perspective, edited by WS Brey, Academic Press, 1996, 681 p
This book is presented by the editor and the publishers of the Jour. nal of Magnetic Resonance as a source of information believed to represent contributions to the field that are of endless significance. All the contributions are chosen exclusively from the Journal of Magnetic Resonance of which the first issue was produced in 1969. NMR covers a wide area from solid state to imaging via high resolution but also chemistry, biology and physics as well as technical developments such as superconducting magnet and computing. For this reason the papers are arranged in chronological order. This has the advantage to give an indication of the way progress has spread from area to area of magnetic resonance. It is also perhaps because journals such as this one exist that cross-fertilization has occurred between various subfields. Thus, gradients which were first developed in imaging are used now in high-resolution liquid spectroscopy, solid state NMR applies multidimensional NMR, while magic angle spinning developed for solid state NMR is now used for obtaining high resolution spectra of liquid in small volumes. Of course, the view developed in that book is somehow biased by the fact that not all papers important in NMR are published exclusively in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance. Some important papers have been published in physics reviews. Although all the main subjects are covered in the book, it is however surprising that papers on solvent suppression are not reported here. This has been an ever lasting problem for a lot of spectroscopists and it still is. Probably the numerous papers published on the subject and the diversity of the approaches used to treat this problem did not allow to find one amongst all. As the author rightly says: "the book will give readers who have not lived through all this period a feeling for how the complex array
of art, science, and technology now available has developed, and that it will bring back some pleasant memories to those who began theirs careers early enough to have experienced the vast changes that have taken place in the past quarter century". AL Lecocq
Alpha-keto dehydrogenase complexes, edited by MS Patel, TE Roche and RA Harris, Birkh~iuser, 1995
Alpha-keto dehydrogenase complexes are of major importance in almost all organisms, and the number of articles published in a single year on pyruvate dehydrogenase is in the hundreds (for example the Entrez database of the NCBI comprises already 2 500 references on this single entry). The understanding of the organization, function and regulation of these multi-component enzymes is therefore of prime importance. This book gathers 21 contributions on all aspects of these complexes which play one of the crucial roles in metabolic compartmentalization in the cell. The combined efforts of the authors gives a view of these enzymes that goes from crystal structure, to function in diseases such as liver cirrhosis. In addition, many authors have thought it to be important to relate their structural or regulatory descriptions to genetics, so that it is possible for the reader to go from the biochemical literature to the literature dealing with genes and gene regulation. One important point in such books is the literature cited: here references are given in full, which is very useful, and they are fairly recent. However, as is often the case in such books (because of the delays introduced for publishing - - could we not hope to do better in the computers era ?) the references are not as up to date as one might have hoped for: the most recent ones are from 1994. But this book will be useful in central libraries, where scientists are expected to find information about the core of intermediary metabolism.
AL Lecocq
Foundations of m o d e r n biochemistry, Early adventures in biochemistry, edited by MG Ord, LA Stocken, 1995, 219 p
it may appear a paradox to entrust a psychoanalyst, someone confronted with madness in his daily practice, with the reviewing of such an important book in its field as Early adventures in biochemistry. Especially if this clinician is not a medical doctor, even though he has been working for 25 years in a ward of a psychiatric hospital. Although precisely we have come to the point where the new prospects in biochemistry, both in terms of neurobiology and genetics, at st~ke in the field of so called 'mental illnesses', make this kind . . . . .;.a;~,~A' . . . . . .r,,, . . . .' . . . . .-oe,, . . . . . . approach necessary, or even urgent. This first volume stands out as a remarkably clear, honest presentation of the first discoveries in biochemistry, both in terms of history and epistemology. Adventures in modern biochemistry date back to only two centuries, and one can consider that the state of this science m and probably the way it is thought and transmitted m fortunately mingles intimately with its history.