- Email: [email protected]
Presystemic drug elimination
Book reviews
CEREBRAL
197
CORTEX
motor and association oreas Sensory,
f
Fig. 3. From
Neurolransmirter Interaction and Compartmentation, edited
structures and the mechanisms of biological redox centres through the use of modern physical techniques?” Vol. I describes: Theoretical Investigations of Iron Porphyrins (by Gilda H. Lowe); Ligands, Spin State, and Geometry in Hemes and Related Metalloporphyrins (by Robert Scheidt and Martin Gouterman); Structural and Analytical Aspects of the Electronic Spectra of Hemeproteins (by Marvin W. Makinen and Antonie K. Churg) and Nuclear-magnetic Resonance of Iron Porphyrins (by Harold M. Got?). Volume II covers the following subjects: Magnetic Susceptibility of Iron Porphyrins (by Samaresh Mitra); Electron Paramagnetic Resonance by Hemoproteins (by Graham Palmer); The Resonance Raman Spectroscopy of Metalloporphyrins and Heme Proteins (by Thomas G. Spiro) and the Electrochemistry of Iron Porphyrins in Nonaqueous Media (by Karl M. Kadish). The volumes provide a very useful summary at an advanced undergraduate level and will be helpful to chemists, biochemists and medical research workers interested in understanding the chemical basis of the role that iron plays in the porphyrins. Further volumes are in preparation and will be welcomed by research workers in this important topic.
Hemoglobin and Oxygen Binding-edited pp. 1982. Macmillan, London. &50.00.
by Chien Ho. 486
Electron Transport and Oxygen Utilizatiorr-edited Ho. 446 pp. 1982. Macmillan. London. f50.00.
by Chien
These two volumes are the Proceedings of an International Symposium on the Interaction between Iron and Proteins in Oxygen and Electron Transport, held in Virginia 1980. There were seven main sessions: (I) Heme-oxygen bonding; (2) Origins of co-operative oxygen binding by hemoglobin; (3) Dynamics of oxygen binding; (4) Electron transport by cytochromes; (5) Study of oxygen utilizing proteins; (6) Biochemistry of oxygen utilization and (7) Electron transport by iron sulphur proteins. Sections I, 2 and 3 are in the
by H. F. Bradford.
first volume, whilst sections 4, 5, 6 and 7 are in the second volume. The symposium was attended by 250 scientists and the majority of the key figures in the subject presented papers. Each session was followed by a discussion. The standard of the papers and the discussions is extremely high and the readers will find a very polished account of the state of the art and in particular, several chapters that will interest them. There is also an account of a presentation to honour Max Perutz where the “secret” background to Hb crystallography and structure is revealed. The two volumes are very well printed and illustrated and stand out from the normal run of symposia. Highly recommended.
Dietary Fiber in Health and Diseaseedited by George V. Vahouny and David Kritchevsky. 330 pp. 1982. Plenum Press, New York and London. $37.50. The importance of diet containing a higher proportion of plant cell walls, lignin, and polysaccharide has been of considerable interest to nutritionalists over the past IO years. A high fiber diet can decrease the transit time through the gut; increase the incorporation of nitrogen into bacterial protein; increase the production of small chain fatty acids and gas in the colon; increase the loss of fecal nitrogen and lipid, decrease calcium, magnesium and iron uptake; affect the absorption of lipids and bile salts, and probably reduce the incidence of colon cancer. This volume of studies by 40 authors is a very readable (and not too bulky) account of the subject and is readily absorbed by the reader.
Presystemic Drug Elimination--edited by Charles F. George and David G. Shand. Guest editor Andrew G. Renwick. 213 pp. 1982. Butterworths, London. $39.95. This is the first volume of a series in Butterworths national Medical Reviews, in Clinical Pharmacology Therapeutics.
Interand
Book reviews
198
The volume is devoted to the metabolism of drugs by the liver, gastrointestinal tract, lung, and is particularly concerned with the effect of these organs on drugs taken by mouth. Some drugs are metabolized by the liver and may produce metabolites in a more toxic form than the parent drug. This is the reason that those drugs are given by injection and are not taken orally. The book is divided into four sections dealing with the major metabolic sites of drugs that are taken by mouth. Amygdalin cyanogenic glycoside is converted to cyamde by the gut flora and is much less toxic if intramuscularly injected than if given orally. The bio-availability of aspirin is f&75”,, due to its hydrolysis by the Hora in the gut. Similarly the bio-availability of paracetamol, phenacetin, morphine, nalorphine, isoprenaline, leva dopa, steroids. pivampicillin. Hurazepam. lignocaine, propanolol and paraaminobcnzoic acid are all reduced from the theoretical availability due to metabolic action of the gut Hora and other metabolic sites, such as the liver and lungs. With more interest being shown in the pharmacodynamlcs of drugs, the role of the intestinal Hora in metabolizing drugs and in preventing their availability is becoming more recognized. This volume, the result of a Satellite Meeting of the first World Conference of Clinical Pharmacology, is a very useful summary of the information, from experiments on animals and from clinical application in man, of the first-pass-metabolism of the gastrointestinal tract. liver and lungs.
Immunopharmacology and the Regulation of Leukocyte Function-edited by David R. Webb. 300 pp. 1982. Marcel
Dekkcr,
New York.
345.
This is Vol. 19 in the Dekker Immunology series. The use of drugs or natural products to modify the function of immunocompetent cells has led to the science of neuropharmacology, and immune modulating drugs have helped to analyse the mechanisms that control the immune response. This volume with 26 contributors summarizes
different approaches to this subject. Various chemicals. such as prostaglandins, thromboxanes, hydroxy-fatty acids, lectins and bacterial lipopolysaccharides, can alter the reactions of leucocytes, macrophages and lymphocytes. This is also described in relation to the role of glucocorticoids in stress and the immune response. The subject clearly has great importance both from the practical and the theoretical view, and it is interesting to see the way in which the various chemical factors can modify the chain reactions of the immune response. The systems is very complicated as shown by the illustration of the model of PG regulation of the immunocompetent cell function taken from the paper by Webb, Wieder and Nowowiejski in this volume. (See Fig. 2.)
Neurotransmitter Interaction and Compartmentation-edited by H. F. Bradford. X39 pp. 1982. Plenum Press, New York
and London.
$95.
This is a volume produced as a result of a NATO advanced study meeting held in 198 I. The main sections of the volume are: I. Nerve terminal organization, II. Key factors in neurotransmitter synthesis and release. III. Neurotransmitters and their interactions at the cellular level, IV. Transmitter metabolism, V. Isolated cells and tissue compartments, VI. Neurotransmitters in sub-systems of the brain and VII. Neurotransmitters in the retina. Although, like many symposium meetings, the authors do prepare and present a set piece of work, each article is a very helpful review of the synaptic transmitter systems interactions at specific sites. Most of the regions of the mammalian brain are discussed where the information is available, and the role of the cyclic nucleotides and peptides is given considerable discussion as well as the standard transmitters. (see the figure taken from the paper by de Belleroche). The volume provides an up-to-date account of the subject and all neurophysiologists will find something 01 interest in it. (See Fig. 3.)
CEREBRAL
197
CORTEX
motor and association oreas Sensory,
f
Fig. 3. From
Neurolransmirter Interaction and Compartmentation, edited
structures and the mechanisms of biological redox centres through the use of modern physical techniques?” Vol. I describes: Theoretical Investigations of Iron Porphyrins (by Gilda H. Lowe); Ligands, Spin State, and Geometry in Hemes and Related Metalloporphyrins (by Robert Scheidt and Martin Gouterman); Structural and Analytical Aspects of the Electronic Spectra of Hemeproteins (by Marvin W. Makinen and Antonie K. Churg) and Nuclear-magnetic Resonance of Iron Porphyrins (by Harold M. Got?). Volume II covers the following subjects: Magnetic Susceptibility of Iron Porphyrins (by Samaresh Mitra); Electron Paramagnetic Resonance by Hemoproteins (by Graham Palmer); The Resonance Raman Spectroscopy of Metalloporphyrins and Heme Proteins (by Thomas G. Spiro) and the Electrochemistry of Iron Porphyrins in Nonaqueous Media (by Karl M. Kadish). The volumes provide a very useful summary at an advanced undergraduate level and will be helpful to chemists, biochemists and medical research workers interested in understanding the chemical basis of the role that iron plays in the porphyrins. Further volumes are in preparation and will be welcomed by research workers in this important topic.
Hemoglobin and Oxygen Binding-edited pp. 1982. Macmillan, London. &50.00.
by Chien Ho. 486
Electron Transport and Oxygen Utilizatiorr-edited Ho. 446 pp. 1982. Macmillan. London. f50.00.
by Chien
These two volumes are the Proceedings of an International Symposium on the Interaction between Iron and Proteins in Oxygen and Electron Transport, held in Virginia 1980. There were seven main sessions: (I) Heme-oxygen bonding; (2) Origins of co-operative oxygen binding by hemoglobin; (3) Dynamics of oxygen binding; (4) Electron transport by cytochromes; (5) Study of oxygen utilizing proteins; (6) Biochemistry of oxygen utilization and (7) Electron transport by iron sulphur proteins. Sections I, 2 and 3 are in the
by H. F. Bradford.
first volume, whilst sections 4, 5, 6 and 7 are in the second volume. The symposium was attended by 250 scientists and the majority of the key figures in the subject presented papers. Each session was followed by a discussion. The standard of the papers and the discussions is extremely high and the readers will find a very polished account of the state of the art and in particular, several chapters that will interest them. There is also an account of a presentation to honour Max Perutz where the “secret” background to Hb crystallography and structure is revealed. The two volumes are very well printed and illustrated and stand out from the normal run of symposia. Highly recommended.
Dietary Fiber in Health and Diseaseedited by George V. Vahouny and David Kritchevsky. 330 pp. 1982. Plenum Press, New York and London. $37.50. The importance of diet containing a higher proportion of plant cell walls, lignin, and polysaccharide has been of considerable interest to nutritionalists over the past IO years. A high fiber diet can decrease the transit time through the gut; increase the incorporation of nitrogen into bacterial protein; increase the production of small chain fatty acids and gas in the colon; increase the loss of fecal nitrogen and lipid, decrease calcium, magnesium and iron uptake; affect the absorption of lipids and bile salts, and probably reduce the incidence of colon cancer. This volume of studies by 40 authors is a very readable (and not too bulky) account of the subject and is readily absorbed by the reader.
Presystemic Drug Elimination--edited by Charles F. George and David G. Shand. Guest editor Andrew G. Renwick. 213 pp. 1982. Butterworths, London. $39.95. This is the first volume of a series in Butterworths national Medical Reviews, in Clinical Pharmacology Therapeutics.
Interand
Book reviews
198
The volume is devoted to the metabolism of drugs by the liver, gastrointestinal tract, lung, and is particularly concerned with the effect of these organs on drugs taken by mouth. Some drugs are metabolized by the liver and may produce metabolites in a more toxic form than the parent drug. This is the reason that those drugs are given by injection and are not taken orally. The book is divided into four sections dealing with the major metabolic sites of drugs that are taken by mouth. Amygdalin cyanogenic glycoside is converted to cyamde by the gut flora and is much less toxic if intramuscularly injected than if given orally. The bio-availability of aspirin is f&75”,, due to its hydrolysis by the Hora in the gut. Similarly the bio-availability of paracetamol, phenacetin, morphine, nalorphine, isoprenaline, leva dopa, steroids. pivampicillin. Hurazepam. lignocaine, propanolol and paraaminobcnzoic acid are all reduced from the theoretical availability due to metabolic action of the gut Hora and other metabolic sites, such as the liver and lungs. With more interest being shown in the pharmacodynamlcs of drugs, the role of the intestinal Hora in metabolizing drugs and in preventing their availability is becoming more recognized. This volume, the result of a Satellite Meeting of the first World Conference of Clinical Pharmacology, is a very useful summary of the information, from experiments on animals and from clinical application in man, of the first-pass-metabolism of the gastrointestinal tract. liver and lungs.
Immunopharmacology and the Regulation of Leukocyte Function-edited by David R. Webb. 300 pp. 1982. Marcel
Dekkcr,
New York.
345.
This is Vol. 19 in the Dekker Immunology series. The use of drugs or natural products to modify the function of immunocompetent cells has led to the science of neuropharmacology, and immune modulating drugs have helped to analyse the mechanisms that control the immune response. This volume with 26 contributors summarizes
different approaches to this subject. Various chemicals. such as prostaglandins, thromboxanes, hydroxy-fatty acids, lectins and bacterial lipopolysaccharides, can alter the reactions of leucocytes, macrophages and lymphocytes. This is also described in relation to the role of glucocorticoids in stress and the immune response. The subject clearly has great importance both from the practical and the theoretical view, and it is interesting to see the way in which the various chemical factors can modify the chain reactions of the immune response. The systems is very complicated as shown by the illustration of the model of PG regulation of the immunocompetent cell function taken from the paper by Webb, Wieder and Nowowiejski in this volume. (See Fig. 2.)
Neurotransmitter Interaction and Compartmentation-edited by H. F. Bradford. X39 pp. 1982. Plenum Press, New York
and London.
$95.
This is a volume produced as a result of a NATO advanced study meeting held in 198 I. The main sections of the volume are: I. Nerve terminal organization, II. Key factors in neurotransmitter synthesis and release. III. Neurotransmitters and their interactions at the cellular level, IV. Transmitter metabolism, V. Isolated cells and tissue compartments, VI. Neurotransmitters in sub-systems of the brain and VII. Neurotransmitters in the retina. Although, like many symposium meetings, the authors do prepare and present a set piece of work, each article is a very helpful review of the synaptic transmitter systems interactions at specific sites. Most of the regions of the mammalian brain are discussed where the information is available, and the role of the cyclic nucleotides and peptides is given considerable discussion as well as the standard transmitters. (see the figure taken from the paper by de Belleroche). The volume provides an up-to-date account of the subject and all neurophysiologists will find something 01 interest in it. (See Fig. 3.)