Practical Cell Culture Techniques

which have a developmental role, with a later set having distinct adult functions. However, a more attractive possibility would be that the changing developmental picture provides a guide to the adult function. During development, pathways having wellorganized maps are added to the pathways with no local sign, and this change can perhaps be seen as a clue to how the adult nucleus can appear to have global functions and yet carry evidence of accurately mapped functions as well. The reticular role that one should be looking for in the adult may well represent a direct outcome of developmental history.

Selectedreferences 1 Jones, E. G. (1985) The Thalamus, Plenum Press 2 Young, M. P. (1992) Nature 358, 152-154 3 Hale, P. T., Sefton, A. J., Baur, L. A. and Cottee, L. J. (1982) Exp. Brain Res. 45, 217-229 4 Harris, R. M. (1987) J. Comp. Neurol. 258, 397-406 5 Ram6n y Cajal, S. (1911) Histologie du Syst~me Nerveux de I'Homme et des Vertebras, Maloine 6 Schlag,J. and Waszak, M. (1971) J. Exp. Neurol. 32, 79-97 7 Houser, C. R., Vaughn, J. E., Barber, R. P. and Roberts, E. (1980) Brain Res. 200, 341-354 8 Shosaku, A., Kayama, Y., Sumitomo, I., Sugitani, M. and Iwama, K. (1989) Prog. Neurobiol. 32, 77-102 9 Cornwall, J., Cooper, J. D. and Phillipson, O. T. (1990) Exp. Brain Res. 80, 157-171 10 Pare, D., Hazrati, L. N., Parent, A. and Steriade, M. (1990) Brain Res. 535, 139-146 11 Levey,A. I., Hallinger, A. E. and Wainer, B. H. (1987) Neurosci. Lett. 75, 7-13 12 Steriade,M. and Deschenes,M. (1984) Brain Res. Rev. 8, 1-63 13 Steriade,M., Domich, L. and Oakson, G. (1986) J. Neurosci. 6, 68-81 14 McCormick, D. A. (1992) Prog. Neurobiol. 39, 337-388 15 Jones, E. G. (1975) J. Comp. Neurol. 162,285-308 16 Scheibel,M. E. and Scheibel,A. B. (1966) Brain Res. 1,43-62 17 Yen, C. T., Conley, M., Hendry, S. H. and Jones, E. G. (1985) J. Neurosci. 8, 2254-2268 18 Crabtree,J. W. and Killackey, H. P. (1989) Eur. J. Neurosci. 1, 94-109

19 Jasper, H. H. (1949) Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1, 405-420 20 Crick, F. (1984) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 81, 4586-4590 21 Montero, V. M., Guillery, R. W. and Woolsey, C. N. (1977) Brain Res. 138, 407-421 22 Symoncls, L. L. and Kaas, J. H. (1978) J. Comp. Neurol. 181, 477-512 23 Uhlrich, D. J., Cucchiaro, J. B., Humphrey, A. L. and Sherman, S. M. (1991) J. Neurophysiol. 65, 1528-1541 24 Crabtree, J. W. (1992) Eur. J. Neurosci. 4, 1343-1351 25 Cicirata, F., Anguat, P., Serapide, M. F. and Panto, M. R. (1990) Exp. Brain Res. 79, 325-337 26 Conley, M., Kupersmith, A. C. and Diamond, I. T. (1991) Eur.J. Neurosci. 3, 1089-1103 27 Lozsadi,D. A. and Guillery, R. W. (1992) Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 18, 219 28 Conley, M. and Diamond, I. T. (1990) Eur. J. Neurosci. 2, 211-226 29 Hatting, J. K., van Lieshout, D. P. and Feig, S. (1991) J. Comp. Neurol. 310, 411-427 30 Steriade,M., Parent, A. and Hada, J. (1984) J. Comp. Neurol. 229, 531-547 31 Clemence, A. E. and Mitrofanis, J. (1992) J. Comp. Neurol. 322, 167-181 32 Mitrofanis, J. (1992) J. Comp. Neurol. 320, 161-181 33 Mitrofanis, J, and Baker, G. E. J. Physiol. (in press) 34 Godement, P., Vanselow, J., Thanos, J. and Bonhoeffer, F. (1987) Development 101,697-713 35 Bentley, D. and Keshishian, H. (1982) Science 218, 1082-1088 36 Palka,J., Whitlock, K. E. and Murray, M. A. (1992) Curr. Opin. Neurol. 2, 48-54 37 Altman, J. and Bayer, S. A. (1988) J. Comp. Neurol. 275, 406-428 38 Lund, R. D. and Bunt, A. H. (1976) J. Comp. NeuroL 165, 247-264 39 De Carlos, J. A. and O'Leary, D. D. M. (1992) J. Neurosci. 12, 1194-1211 40 Molnar, Z. and Blakemore, C. (1990) J. Physiol. 430, 104P 41 Bate, C. M. (1976) Nature 260, 54-55 42 Shatz, C. J. eta/. (1991) in Proc. Retina Res. Found. Symp. Vol. 3 (Lain, D. and Shatz, C., eds), pp. 175-186, MIT Press 43 Nelson, S. B. and LeVay, S. (1985) J. Comp. Neurol. 240, 322-330 44 Sherman,S. M., and Koch, C. (1986) Exp. Brain Res. 63, 1-20

Acknowledgements We thank Mary Walker, Zillah Duessenand DavidStroudfor their techntcalasslstance, ColinBeesleyfor the photographyand TerryRichardsfor the diagrams. Wealso thank G. Baker, S.M. Shermanand S.Zekifor their thoughtfulcomments on earlierdraftsof the manuscnpt.

i !!ili~i i!!i!!i!i!i~i !"i!!!!ii!!iii!~!ii i!!!!i!!ii i!!!!!!i i !i~!ii!~'~ii!~!!E~i i~¸!~i!i!i~ii~iiii!i!!ii~iii!!i!!~ii~ii!!!~ii~i~!!!!~i!ii~ii!!ii!!ii!~!i~i!i!!!i!~ii!ii~!~!i~!i!!i!ii~ii!!ii~i!~!~i!ii!i!i!i~i!i!i~i!~ii!~!i~ii~!!!~!~i~i!~iiiiiii!!!!ii~i!!i!~i!!~ifiii~i~ii~i~!~i~ii!i!iiiiiii!~i!i~i~i!i~i !:!~!, ~i!~!!ii~i!!!i!~i~!ii ~i~i!i !!!~!~i!!!~ii~!~!i~!?!~i~,!~ib !~!~io ~!ii~!io ~i~ k s Protocols for Neural Cell Culture edited by Sergey Fedoroff and Arlene Richardson, Humana Press, 1992. £51.00 (xiii + 178 pages) ISBN 0 89603 228 O

Practical Cell Culture Techniques edited by Alan A. Boulton, Glen B. Baker and Wolfgang Walz, Humana Press, 1992. $79.50/£68.00 (xiii + 378 pages) ISBN 0 89603 214 0

Both of these books were written with the aim of giving the reader a broad understanding of what neuronal cell culture is all about, and of providing basic information that will allow the reader to set up neural cultures competently. Each is made up of chapters contributed by well-respected individuals in the field (in fact a number have contributed to both books) TINS, Vol. 16, No. 6, 1993

and they both cover the preparation of a wide range of neurally derived tissues. Protocols for Neural Cell Culture has been largely successful in its aim. Presented as a ringbound paperback, it is based upon the manuals used for the tissue culture courses run by the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and provides useful guides for the preparation of a wide range of neural cultures. The recipes provided are tried and tested, and there is enough repetition of similar techniques using different methods to show the newcomer that there is no one absolutely correct way to grow neurones. The figures and plates are of very good quality and well chosen to show 'typical' results (i.e. the best ones), although the book is not lavishly illustrated. Indeed, more plates would have been useful since one

of the most difficult parts of cell culture is knowing just what a healthy, happy cell looks like. Essentially a collection of recipes, this book includes not just the fancy stuff but essential basics as well. (Here is a book for those w h o have never come to terms with using a haemocytometer.) It is clearly written, albeit very concisely. This is not a large book, and while the methodology is always described in sufficient detail, it would have been nice to have had more detailed discussion of the rationale behind the development of the techniques. In fact, this book could easily have been another 50 pages long without becoming cumbersome. Further, although it has included descriptions of the preparation of many types of primary cells there are some areas of neural cell culture that are glaring by their omission. In

A. J. Morton Deptof Pharmacology, Universityof Cambridge,Tennis CourtRoad, Cambridge,UK CB21OJ.

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scientific approaches with extensive protocols for specific techniques. However, what it has gained in detail it has lost in the accessibility of the information to the reader. A novice reading through this book would probably be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of detail, and the actual protocols are sometimes rather difficult to find. The book is also compromised by the rather poor quality of the reproduction of illustrations and by the typeface used (which although not small, is quite difficult to read). For those who bought Culturing Nerve Cells [£44.95, edited by Banker and Goslin (MIT Press, 1991) and reviewed in TINS last year], I would hesitate to recommend this book as a practical manual for the laboratory, since they cover much the same ground. It would, however, make a useful and extremely interesting addition to a library.

might have expected a book of this nature to sum up the debate, by P. Buser and M. Imbert (translated or at least point out the similarities by R. H. Kay), MIT Press, 1992. between the two phenomena, but £40.00 (x + 394 pages) ISBN 0 262 in fact no such comparison is made, 02331 8 and the description of the psychoThere have been a number of physical variety is inadequate, to interesting developments in hear- say the least. This is by no means ing research over the last decade, an isolated example, and the and one of the most encouraging reader interested in both the physisigns has been the beginnings of ology and psychology of hearing an interaction between researchers would be better served by reading in different disciplines. The objec- one book on each subject - for tive of Audition, according to the example, An Introduction to the Preface, was to gather infor- Physiology of Hearing, by J. O. mation on the psychophysics and Pickles, and the companion An both peripheral and central physi- Introduction to the Psychology of ology of hearing into a single Hearing, by B. C. J. Moore. Both of volume. This is a laudable aim, and these books provide more intercould have given rise to a useful disciplinary discussion than the synthesis of these three types of single volume reviewed here. research. Unfortunately, the three Given the lack of cohesion besections of the book hardly refer to tween the individual sections, a each other and so, apart from positive evaluation of the book portability, the potential advan- must depend on the quality of its tages of binding them together component parts. It certainly conare lost. To take a simple example, tains a few interesting passages, the physiological phenomenon of such as a discussion of the approsuppression has a striking parallel priate measure (eardrum pressure in the psychophysical finding of or stapes displacement) to use the same name, and, although when describing tuning curves, they are generally believed to re- and of the effects of cortical lesions flect the same process, some de- on human performance (a rare bate has taken place over the inter-disciplinary foray). However, extent to which this is so. One there are a number of problems

with the book that the occasional ray of light cannot outweigh. Not least is the rather dry presentation of the subject matter, which renders it, I think, inaccessible to the target audience of 'upper-level undergraduates and postgraduates taking basic science courses'. For example, the book begins rather abruptly with a discussion of the properties of vibration and of Fourier analysis, which, although not too hard when one gets down to it, would send most students I know running for cover. This treatment would be fine if it provided a rigour not present in less dry works, but in fact there are a number of factual errors. To take a trivial example (more substantive ones are described below), p. 8 refers to a figure as showing 'wideband noise (white noise)', whereas the spectrum shows the noise to be wideband, but definitely not white. A frustrating aspect of the book is that the authors frequently make bland statements of fact, without describing the evidence on which they are based, or, where such evidence is described, without making any reference to the original work. This would be criticised in an undergraduate

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researchers embarking on neural cell culture. It covers a wide range of techniques, it is particularly easy to read and the recipes are comprehensive and easy to follow. It also has detailed appendices directingthe reader towards suppliers of specialized equipment and chemicals. (Unfortunately for readers from European and other countries, these are restricted to North American suppliers.) Although the general aims of the second book, Practical Cell Culture Techniques, are similar to those of Protocols for Neural Cell Culture, it has been written on a much more ambitious scale. As part of the series Neuromethods, it has collected together a great deal of useful and well-referenced basic information, as well as providing methods for a large number of different techniques. One of the strengths of the book is that it has combined details of the theoretical background and

particular, there is no mention of organotypic roller cultures or the use of neural cell lines. The deliberate omission of any mention of antibiotics was also rather surprising. For a book aimed at helping people to set up neural cultures, the lack of discussion of antibiotics was rather unkind. Although antibiotics are no substitute for the good sterile technique essential for this kind of work, most scientists who do tissue culture find that at some stage in their careers their cultures suffer from infections of one kind or another. It would have been more constructive for the reader to discou rage the use of antibiotics but at the same time to give sensible advice as to strategies for dealing with infections if they occur. Nevertheless, despite these criticisms, this is a book which I welcome to the shelves in my laboratory, particularly for the use by PhD students and post-doctoral

R. P. Carlyon Laboratoryof Expenmental Psychology, UniversityofSussex, Brighton,E. Sussex, UKBN19QG.

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TINS, Vol. 16, No. 6, 1993