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Progress in retinal research
Neuroscience Vol. 22, No. I. op. 375-319. 1987 Pergamon Journals Ltd. Printed in Great Britain
BOOK REVIEWS Progress in Retinal Research, Vol. 5. N. OSBORNE and G. CHADER (eds). Pergamon
Progress in Retinal Research, Vol. 5, is the latest in an excellent series of volumes of commissioned review articles edited by Neville Osborne and Gerald Chader. These volumes have certainly a place on my shelves, although the problem of finding out who borrowed them when I need them also certainly applies. As a recent convert to retinal research, I find the series particularly useful because of its wide coverage, ranging from the clinical, through the anatomical and physiological to the molecular level of analysis of retinal function. The contents of Vol. 5 illustrate this coverage quite well. At the clinical end there are articles on retinal senescence (R. A. Weale), retinal specific antigens and immunopathogenie processes (1. Gery, M. Mochizuki and R. B. Nussenblatt), the genetics and immunology of retinoblastoma (J. R. Lubin and D. M. Albert) and plasticity of the retinal vasculatine (M. S. Burns, R. W. Bellhom, G. E. Korte and W. J. Heriot). Anatomical studies cover two articles on horizontal cells (M. Piccolino and A. Gallego), while physiological studies cover the S-potential (M. Laufer and B. Drujan) and the membrane properties of isolates retinal cells (A. Kaneko and M. Tachibana). Finally, at the molecular end, H. Pasantes-Morales reviews current concepts on the role of taurine in the retina, while D. L. Birkle and N. G. Bazan cover the arachadonic acid cascade and phospholipid and docosahexaenoic acid metabolism in the retina. I have kept until last the article which, admittedly from the biased perspective on someone interested in retinal transmitter systems, I found the most interesting contribution: Steve Yazulla’s masterly synthesis of the literature on GABAergic mechanisms in the retina. His article illustrates how completely research on retinal circuits is now multidisciplinary, for it requires integrating biochemical, morphological and physiological information. Yazulla largely succeeds in this synthesis, although the integration of the physiological data is not as well handled as the other aspects. The most obvious ommission is the push-pull excitation-inhibition model of Belgum et al. [.I. Physiol. 326,
MPTP: A Neurotoxin Producing a Parkinsonian (eds). Academic Press, New York.
Press, Oxford
(1985). 349 pp.
91-108 (1982)]. This replaces the Dowling-Werblin model of excitatory drive from ON- and OFF-bipolar cells, with the combined action of excitatory and inhibitory input to ganglion cells, from bipolar and/or amacrine cells. Belgum et al. [J. Physiol. 354, 273-286 (1984)) have directly implicated GABA as the transmitter mediating a sustained dark inhibition of some ON-cells, with activation of the cells by light involving an almost pure dis-inhibition, rather than an increase in excitatory drive. All review articles become out-dated, and it is no way Yazulla’s fault that the week this volume arrived on my desk for review, Nature reported on the possible localization of GABA and GAD immunoreactivities in the photoreceptor terminals of primate retina [y. Nishimura, M. L. Schwartz and P. Rakic, Nature 320, 753-756 (1986)]. In his review Yazulla mentions the limited but convincing evidence that, in addition to its more conventional hyperpolarizing, inhibitory effects, GABA can act as a direct and powerful depolarizing agent. Whether these unusual physiological effects are related to the unexpected photoreceptor location of GABA and GAD immunoreactivities remains to be determined. It should be clear that I recommend this series as a whole to anyone interested in retinal research, or vision in a more general sense. But the selected articles are worth reading by people engaged in quite different areas of research. To pick up a theme which is found in the final paragraphs of many of the articles in this series, research on the retina is not only valid in its own right, but has many lessons of more general significance. Depolarizing effects of the inhibitory amino acids: calcium-independent GABA release from horizontal cells, and the S-potential, the first graded potential to be discovered, are covered in this volume. Previous volumes have covered such topics as the inhibitory effects of the so-called excitatory amino acids. For these reasons Progress in Retinal Research deserves a wider audience than the title of the series implies. I. G. MORGAN
Syndrome. S. P. MARKEY, N. CASTAGNOLI, A. J. TREVOR and I. J. KOPIN
I-Methyl-Cphenyl-1,2,3,6_tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is a neurotoxin which induces Parkinsonism in man and other primates by destruction of the dopaminergic cells of the substantia nigra. Discovery of the significance of this compound has injected new impetus into research on Parkinsonism since it provides a unique animal model for experimental studies and may shed light on the aetiology of human Parkinson’s disease. This book is the outcome of a symposium on MPTP held in Bethesda, Maryland in 1985. The seventy or so contributions comprehensively span the field of MPTP research at that time. The book is divided into six main sections, namely: MPTP and Parkinson’s Disease; Expression of MPTP Toxicity; Mechanism of MPTP Toxicity; Chemical
pathology of MPTP; Small Animals and in Vitro Studies; Large Animals and Man. In addition, there is a chapter dealing with recommendations for safe laboratory practice where MPTP is in use. The study of MPTP and related compounds is a rapidly advancing field of activity and considerable new and important data have become available since the 1985 symposium. Nevertheless, this volume is a landmark of research in this area and will undoubtedly be widely consulted as a comprehensive and authoritative compilation of many of the seminal studies on MPTP, its clinical, neuropathological and neurochemical effects, and its mode of action. A. R. CROSSMAN 375
BOOK REVIEWS Progress in Retinal Research, Vol. 5. N. OSBORNE and G. CHADER (eds). Pergamon
Progress in Retinal Research, Vol. 5, is the latest in an excellent series of volumes of commissioned review articles edited by Neville Osborne and Gerald Chader. These volumes have certainly a place on my shelves, although the problem of finding out who borrowed them when I need them also certainly applies. As a recent convert to retinal research, I find the series particularly useful because of its wide coverage, ranging from the clinical, through the anatomical and physiological to the molecular level of analysis of retinal function. The contents of Vol. 5 illustrate this coverage quite well. At the clinical end there are articles on retinal senescence (R. A. Weale), retinal specific antigens and immunopathogenie processes (1. Gery, M. Mochizuki and R. B. Nussenblatt), the genetics and immunology of retinoblastoma (J. R. Lubin and D. M. Albert) and plasticity of the retinal vasculatine (M. S. Burns, R. W. Bellhom, G. E. Korte and W. J. Heriot). Anatomical studies cover two articles on horizontal cells (M. Piccolino and A. Gallego), while physiological studies cover the S-potential (M. Laufer and B. Drujan) and the membrane properties of isolates retinal cells (A. Kaneko and M. Tachibana). Finally, at the molecular end, H. Pasantes-Morales reviews current concepts on the role of taurine in the retina, while D. L. Birkle and N. G. Bazan cover the arachadonic acid cascade and phospholipid and docosahexaenoic acid metabolism in the retina. I have kept until last the article which, admittedly from the biased perspective on someone interested in retinal transmitter systems, I found the most interesting contribution: Steve Yazulla’s masterly synthesis of the literature on GABAergic mechanisms in the retina. His article illustrates how completely research on retinal circuits is now multidisciplinary, for it requires integrating biochemical, morphological and physiological information. Yazulla largely succeeds in this synthesis, although the integration of the physiological data is not as well handled as the other aspects. The most obvious ommission is the push-pull excitation-inhibition model of Belgum et al. [.I. Physiol. 326,
MPTP: A Neurotoxin Producing a Parkinsonian (eds). Academic Press, New York.
Press, Oxford
(1985). 349 pp.
91-108 (1982)]. This replaces the Dowling-Werblin model of excitatory drive from ON- and OFF-bipolar cells, with the combined action of excitatory and inhibitory input to ganglion cells, from bipolar and/or amacrine cells. Belgum et al. [J. Physiol. 354, 273-286 (1984)) have directly implicated GABA as the transmitter mediating a sustained dark inhibition of some ON-cells, with activation of the cells by light involving an almost pure dis-inhibition, rather than an increase in excitatory drive. All review articles become out-dated, and it is no way Yazulla’s fault that the week this volume arrived on my desk for review, Nature reported on the possible localization of GABA and GAD immunoreactivities in the photoreceptor terminals of primate retina [y. Nishimura, M. L. Schwartz and P. Rakic, Nature 320, 753-756 (1986)]. In his review Yazulla mentions the limited but convincing evidence that, in addition to its more conventional hyperpolarizing, inhibitory effects, GABA can act as a direct and powerful depolarizing agent. Whether these unusual physiological effects are related to the unexpected photoreceptor location of GABA and GAD immunoreactivities remains to be determined. It should be clear that I recommend this series as a whole to anyone interested in retinal research, or vision in a more general sense. But the selected articles are worth reading by people engaged in quite different areas of research. To pick up a theme which is found in the final paragraphs of many of the articles in this series, research on the retina is not only valid in its own right, but has many lessons of more general significance. Depolarizing effects of the inhibitory amino acids: calcium-independent GABA release from horizontal cells, and the S-potential, the first graded potential to be discovered, are covered in this volume. Previous volumes have covered such topics as the inhibitory effects of the so-called excitatory amino acids. For these reasons Progress in Retinal Research deserves a wider audience than the title of the series implies. I. G. MORGAN
Syndrome. S. P. MARKEY, N. CASTAGNOLI, A. J. TREVOR and I. J. KOPIN
I-Methyl-Cphenyl-1,2,3,6_tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is a neurotoxin which induces Parkinsonism in man and other primates by destruction of the dopaminergic cells of the substantia nigra. Discovery of the significance of this compound has injected new impetus into research on Parkinsonism since it provides a unique animal model for experimental studies and may shed light on the aetiology of human Parkinson’s disease. This book is the outcome of a symposium on MPTP held in Bethesda, Maryland in 1985. The seventy or so contributions comprehensively span the field of MPTP research at that time. The book is divided into six main sections, namely: MPTP and Parkinson’s Disease; Expression of MPTP Toxicity; Mechanism of MPTP Toxicity; Chemical
pathology of MPTP; Small Animals and in Vitro Studies; Large Animals and Man. In addition, there is a chapter dealing with recommendations for safe laboratory practice where MPTP is in use. The study of MPTP and related compounds is a rapidly advancing field of activity and considerable new and important data have become available since the 1985 symposium. Nevertheless, this volume is a landmark of research in this area and will undoubtedly be widely consulted as a comprehensive and authoritative compilation of many of the seminal studies on MPTP, its clinical, neuropathological and neurochemical effects, and its mode of action. A. R. CROSSMAN 375