- Email: [email protected]
Smooth muscle: An assessment of current knowledge
264 mones. The chapter on nutrition and growth and on steroids in particular summarize clearly a large number ofexpriments. The cfkcts of ~t~t~n on hormones and 6rowth involves many variables, andthe chapter by Phillips is valuable fbr categorizing the many intemc~, and evaluating the
experimental work that has been done in this area. Knowledge of endocrine control of growth should continua to grow as increased supplies of human growth hnrmow becomeavailable through genetic engi~~n~. und as more is learned about
somutomedins. This book should be usefuf to anyone interested in this Iield. and is a good start to this new series. PRISCILLA S. DANNIPS
Somewhatconfused
of diseases including viral and bacterial infection, autoimmunity. arthritis and imrn~~f~ie~y. The third section deals with cancer treatment with a brief review of tbe current status of immunotherapy. Some novel methods for assessing i~~~~ulat~ activity are presented and in the same section John Hadden has summed up the current statoof-the-arl (why not put such a summing up at the end of the volume?f. Three articles on thymic hormones cover some deveiopments in modification of T-cell fu~tion and treatmenl of ~rnun~ proliferative disease. Inflammatory mechanisms get a look in as does aracbidonic acid metabolism in the context of nl~~~~ and basil products and r,!guIation of lymphocyte hmction. ChemcQxis, degmmdation and microbicidal act&m of rteutmphils and macro. phages are &o discussed in some detail both as biochemical phenomena and as potential immune/inflammatory models. These sections concentrate to a great
extent on mechanisms of action and, as such, provide the background for an inlmu~t~a~utic approach. A section on ‘selected (sic) topics inch&s a mixture of articles on cytotoxicity. monoclonal antibodies, allergy, CNS. ~mgens, immune suppressor substauces, and schistosomes. Finally, the summaries of ‘Therapy Communication Sessions’ again cover a wide area in&ding immu~~entiati~, interferon. mummy1 dipeptides. lymphokines and transfer fao 101. In conclusion, this book contains much useful specialist information but overall leaves one somewhat confused; indeed in this it seems to accurately retlect both the Brighton ~fem~~ and the current state of immunophannaco1ogy. However, out of such confusion order may yet come.
Tribute to excellence
The opening chapter, by Cabella. on the structure of smooth muscles is complete. well-illustrated and authoritative. Next there is a description, by Bolton. Tomita and Vassort, of the application of the voltage clamp method to smooth muscle. It is lucid and not over-technical, yet explains clearly the many problems associated with attempts to measure ionic conductances in smooth muscle. Tke inclusion of this soti of healthily scepticsl. yet not destructive. dis cussion of experimental methods is an excellent idea; there is little point in emcting elaborate hypotheses if the fallibility of tlte methods used to obtain the data is not understood. T.he same sort of healthy step tlcism is noticeable in Brading’s chapter on ionic distribution in smooth muscle. After reading it, one is left in no doubt about the problems that surround the ~~~~nt of such a basic, and apparently straightforward, quantity as the intracellular sodium concentration. Yet one also gets a good survey of the present state of knoll. The chapters by BoIton, Tomita and Vassort, and by Brading, combine review with anelementofcritical teaching which is just what is needed near the start of such a comprehensive book. The rest of the chap ters have a mom conventional review for-
edited by J. Hudden. L. Chedid, P. MU&II and F. Spreufico, Pergumon Press, 19&I. $80.~~33.~~ fir f 517 pages) lSi%V 0 08 O&W4 4 This book consists of mirh of the pmceed-
.ngsof the first l~a~~~~fem~ on logy held in Brighton, Ernst U.K.. duringJuly 1980. The invited speakers have contributed artiries and there are also summaries of rn~syrn~ia fcalled Therapy Communication Sessions) contributed by the chair-peopk:. It is diflicult to revieu such a bk in its ~n~~t~~rnu~~~~t~sa~~ of a conference and thusJudge the merits of the meeting itself. Providing, as it does, a permanent record of the. .ccasiolr it seems a pity that the tlavour of the meeting could not have been evoked by the editors prefao ing and summing up the meeting and including some record of the discussions of individual presentations. The iack of some editorial overview seems particularly sad as this meeting representedthefirstof a series of i~~~olo~ gatberiogs pro. viding a forum for what is now widely recognized as a discipline in ir$ own right, hopefully, combining the best ofimmunology tempered with p~~~o~~y and oiled by the desire to &velop immuntithenpies. I found the volume somewL1 confusing to read and feel that whilst repmducing the authors typescripts ditectly ma:! speed up publication (if one year is to be considered f&t) it does nor make for easy digestion. Thus, this book seems to me to be par&ularly refevaat to specialists in the areas covered and. as such provides much vaht. abIe information. The main sessions and thus the rna~~~ ofthe book ranged from the practical prob lems of the pharmacokinetics and testing of potential ~u~~~ingd~ to mom specific areas of the irn~~~~~lo~~ Calapproach todisease therapy, and discus. sion of particular areas of research viz. thymk bomu~~~, am&ionic acid metabolites. cbmotaxis and degranula tion. Then? are three -ions devoted directly to pmbIems of irnrnu~~~; the frst two deal with pharmacokinetics, toxicoI. ogy and some novel approaches to a range
Smooth Mu&e: An Assessment of Curtent Knowledge edited by Edith Biilbring, A&on F. Brad&g, A&an W. Jones and Tudao Tomita. Edward Arnold, 1981. f45.00 (xii + 563pages) ISBN 0 71314348 7 This book is very good. It is not &en that
one comes across a large, multi-author volume about which one can be so enthusiastic; frequently such books consist of a series of di~on~ct~ papers of variable standard. wrth many duplications and omissions. This style of publication reaches, I suppose, its nadir in the pub liihed proceedings of some symposia, in which one has the impression that a large proportion of the contributions should have a title like ‘Some snippets from my last few papers’. The new edition of Smooth MuscIe is nothing like that. It gives the impression ~~~it~have~j~~k~t~~r the 2Ocontributions. but have organized the chapter contents in a way that makes the book read like a coherent whole. And the chapters am written as mviews of the current state of research, not just as a synopsis of the authors’ own contributions.
MICHAEL A. BRAY
TIPS -Jutw IV82
265
mat,and cover a wide range, for example: than usual. In one place. conformit) with the sodiumpump (Widdicombe), electrical activity (Casteels and Tomita). cakium (Golenhofcn). excitation-contractioncoup ling (Kuriyama). actions of acetylcholine (Bolton) and catecholamines (Biilbring. Ohashi and Tomita). cyclic nuckotides (Hardman), supersensitivity (Westfall), development (Bumstock) and more detailed discussionsof a number of patticu. lar types of smuothmuscle. In all of this I can fmd nothin: of any consequencethat I don’t like. There are a few small misprints, but probably fewer
the law of massaction is taken to mean that a ligand is bound acrurdmg to the HdC Langmuir equation. with a Hill czffx%mt of unity; tiatements along theseliner seem to have hecomealmost part of the language of hiding studies, a fact whsh would. no doubt. surprise any physlcal chcmi*t who was tmder the impression that tbc law of mass action was rather more general in It* scope. It might. I suppose.be maintained that in a few places in the book the electrophyGologicalapproachis emphasi& at the expense of the more hiochcmical
llte coatribwus IO tlns book are all >pcrcr plc who have Ieen i~\y~.iatcd with Prof. B&ring and the Oxford Univcnig Department of Phamlacolog>. Iti qudrl~ of the book IS a gr:at tribute tc3the rrcelIenceof the work that bheand her ~SUIC’IPCZ have doir. and to the enthusia?_m that *he hasengendered. -
successful Toxicants and Drugs Dynamics
Kinetics and
by Ellen 1. O’FMerr). John Wiley R Sons, 1981. f27.05 (xvi f 3V8 paipes) ISBN 0 47106047 X Most textbodtsof pharmacokineticstendto emphasize either the biological or the mathematical aspectsof the subject. with au often uneasy relationship between the two. A book which unapologeticallytackles the problems inherent in applying mathematical models to empirical biological data thereforemustat&e interest.espy clally when a treatmentof both kineticsand dynamics is found between the same covers. The purposeof Toxicants and Drugs Kinetics and Dynamics, according to its preface, is ‘to bridge the gap between pure mathematical theory. at the one extreme. and the indiscriminateapplicationof simple standardmodels to data they may not ade quately describe.at the other’. In thisobjective it is successful. Chapter I is an introduction (for the matbemalically rusty) to tbe mathemalics of kinetics and is prefaced with a useful glossaryof symbols. With admirable logic. the mathematics of saturable systems. as such, is dealt with in Cblpter 2 before all these techniques are applied in Chapters 3-5 to the kinetics of the processes of absorption. distribution and elimination under variousconditions. The theme of the three remaining chapters is pharma codynamics. covering receptor theory and time-effect and dosorrsponse relationships. II is rightly retnarked that the principle5 consideredare common to both pharmacology and toxicology. This book could be read with great profit by studentsand most otherswho work in theseareas. Each chap ter is refecnced, begins with tirst princ:L pies, is developedthroughto impurtantanu’ more complex concepts and is concluded with a wealth of problems aften derived from the Iiter;lture. but. alas. no solutions
are mcluded. The only major crlticlsm worth making is that the mathematicsand statisticsof curve fitting arc dismixd in less than IWO pages and ahhoughcomputer application\ may be outside ils scope. the lack of a more sophisticateddiscussionhcrc seemsan imprtant omission. This book is attractivelyproducd H ith a clearly written text. apt illustrationsand an
been rr~rucd in rune artlsle\ h> cxprlenced and urll-known authors\rho in gcrr era1 contrihutc thrlr oun re\ults. SIX rc\ te\\ s &al N ith punncrgic rrcepfor4 Rainergic Receptnrs ubcrca~ three re\ ieus show >pcc~dlaifin!t? edited by G. Burrrs~cuk. C%I~~IIUIII anri f&r adenosine receptors. Thuh. the term H(il!, IVNI. t23.00 (Lt 7 365 pclgt~s~ ‘purinergic’ ctjmprisc* qultr JiFermt tlP0 IS’BN 0412 I.5840 X .lf rcc’eptor’rtar adrnoame. S -AMP. ADP The presentvolume in the seriesRccrpLbrs and ATP. The problem of an mcreaainp and Recognition is devoted !:F::L field of number of nomenclature3 ior different purinergic receptors. According to the types of purinergic receptors has not yet editor the knowledge of these ieceptors is been solved. The opening article by G. Burnsli~h still in its infancy comparedto the classical receptorsof t!te autonomicnervoussystem. provides an introduction to the historical classitication of The progressmade in the last tew gearshas development and
Extensive presentation
experimental work that has been done in this area. Knowledge of endocrine control of growth should continua to grow as increased supplies of human growth hnrmow becomeavailable through genetic engi~~n~. und as more is learned about
somutomedins. This book should be usefuf to anyone interested in this Iield. and is a good start to this new series. PRISCILLA S. DANNIPS
Somewhatconfused
of diseases including viral and bacterial infection, autoimmunity. arthritis and imrn~~f~ie~y. The third section deals with cancer treatment with a brief review of tbe current status of immunotherapy. Some novel methods for assessing i~~~~ulat~ activity are presented and in the same section John Hadden has summed up the current statoof-the-arl (why not put such a summing up at the end of the volume?f. Three articles on thymic hormones cover some deveiopments in modification of T-cell fu~tion and treatmenl of ~rnun~ proliferative disease. Inflammatory mechanisms get a look in as does aracbidonic acid metabolism in the context of nl~~~~ and basil products and r,!guIation of lymphocyte hmction. ChemcQxis, degmmdation and microbicidal act&m of rteutmphils and macro. phages are &o discussed in some detail both as biochemical phenomena and as potential immune/inflammatory models. These sections concentrate to a great
extent on mechanisms of action and, as such, provide the background for an inlmu~t~a~utic approach. A section on ‘selected (sic) topics inch&s a mixture of articles on cytotoxicity. monoclonal antibodies, allergy, CNS. ~mgens, immune suppressor substauces, and schistosomes. Finally, the summaries of ‘Therapy Communication Sessions’ again cover a wide area in&ding immu~~entiati~, interferon. mummy1 dipeptides. lymphokines and transfer fao 101. In conclusion, this book contains much useful specialist information but overall leaves one somewhat confused; indeed in this it seems to accurately retlect both the Brighton ~fem~~ and the current state of immunophannaco1ogy. However, out of such confusion order may yet come.
Tribute to excellence
The opening chapter, by Cabella. on the structure of smooth muscles is complete. well-illustrated and authoritative. Next there is a description, by Bolton. Tomita and Vassort, of the application of the voltage clamp method to smooth muscle. It is lucid and not over-technical, yet explains clearly the many problems associated with attempts to measure ionic conductances in smooth muscle. Tke inclusion of this soti of healthily scepticsl. yet not destructive. dis cussion of experimental methods is an excellent idea; there is little point in emcting elaborate hypotheses if the fallibility of tlte methods used to obtain the data is not understood. T.he same sort of healthy step tlcism is noticeable in Brading’s chapter on ionic distribution in smooth muscle. After reading it, one is left in no doubt about the problems that surround the ~~~~nt of such a basic, and apparently straightforward, quantity as the intracellular sodium concentration. Yet one also gets a good survey of the present state of knoll. The chapters by BoIton, Tomita and Vassort, and by Brading, combine review with anelementofcritical teaching which is just what is needed near the start of such a comprehensive book. The rest of the chap ters have a mom conventional review for-
edited by J. Hudden. L. Chedid, P. MU&II and F. Spreufico, Pergumon Press, 19&I. $80.~~33.~~ fir f 517 pages) lSi%V 0 08 O&W4 4 This book consists of mirh of the pmceed-
.ngsof the first l~a~~~~fem~ on logy held in Brighton, Ernst U.K.. duringJuly 1980. The invited speakers have contributed artiries and there are also summaries of rn~syrn~ia fcalled Therapy Communication Sessions) contributed by the chair-peopk:. It is diflicult to revieu such a bk in its ~n~~t~~rnu~~~~t~sa~~ of a conference and thusJudge the merits of the meeting itself. Providing, as it does, a permanent record of the. .ccasiolr it seems a pity that the tlavour of the meeting could not have been evoked by the editors prefao ing and summing up the meeting and including some record of the discussions of individual presentations. The iack of some editorial overview seems particularly sad as this meeting representedthefirstof a series of i~~~olo~ gatberiogs pro. viding a forum for what is now widely recognized as a discipline in ir$ own right, hopefully, combining the best ofimmunology tempered with p~~~o~~y and oiled by the desire to &velop immuntithenpies. I found the volume somewL1 confusing to read and feel that whilst repmducing the authors typescripts ditectly ma:! speed up publication (if one year is to be considered f&t) it does nor make for easy digestion. Thus, this book seems to me to be par&ularly refevaat to specialists in the areas covered and. as such provides much vaht. abIe information. The main sessions and thus the rna~~~ ofthe book ranged from the practical prob lems of the pharmacokinetics and testing of potential ~u~~~ingd~ to mom specific areas of the irn~~~~~lo~~ Calapproach todisease therapy, and discus. sion of particular areas of research viz. thymk bomu~~~, am&ionic acid metabolites. cbmotaxis and degranula tion. Then? are three -ions devoted directly to pmbIems of irnrnu~~~; the frst two deal with pharmacokinetics, toxicoI. ogy and some novel approaches to a range
Smooth Mu&e: An Assessment of Curtent Knowledge edited by Edith Biilbring, A&on F. Brad&g, A&an W. Jones and Tudao Tomita. Edward Arnold, 1981. f45.00 (xii + 563pages) ISBN 0 71314348 7 This book is very good. It is not &en that
one comes across a large, multi-author volume about which one can be so enthusiastic; frequently such books consist of a series of di~on~ct~ papers of variable standard. wrth many duplications and omissions. This style of publication reaches, I suppose, its nadir in the pub liihed proceedings of some symposia, in which one has the impression that a large proportion of the contributions should have a title like ‘Some snippets from my last few papers’. The new edition of Smooth MuscIe is nothing like that. It gives the impression ~~~it~have~j~~k~t~~r the 2Ocontributions. but have organized the chapter contents in a way that makes the book read like a coherent whole. And the chapters am written as mviews of the current state of research, not just as a synopsis of the authors’ own contributions.
MICHAEL A. BRAY
TIPS -Jutw IV82
265
mat,and cover a wide range, for example: than usual. In one place. conformit) with the sodiumpump (Widdicombe), electrical activity (Casteels and Tomita). cakium (Golenhofcn). excitation-contractioncoup ling (Kuriyama). actions of acetylcholine (Bolton) and catecholamines (Biilbring. Ohashi and Tomita). cyclic nuckotides (Hardman), supersensitivity (Westfall), development (Bumstock) and more detailed discussionsof a number of patticu. lar types of smuothmuscle. In all of this I can fmd nothin: of any consequencethat I don’t like. There are a few small misprints, but probably fewer
the law of massaction is taken to mean that a ligand is bound acrurdmg to the HdC Langmuir equation. with a Hill czffx%mt of unity; tiatements along theseliner seem to have hecomealmost part of the language of hiding studies, a fact whsh would. no doubt. surprise any physlcal chcmi*t who was tmder the impression that tbc law of mass action was rather more general in It* scope. It might. I suppose.be maintained that in a few places in the book the electrophyGologicalapproachis emphasi& at the expense of the more hiochcmical
llte coatribwus IO tlns book are all >pcrcr plc who have Ieen i~\y~.iatcd with Prof. B&ring and the Oxford Univcnig Department of Phamlacolog>. Iti qudrl~ of the book IS a gr:at tribute tc3the rrcelIenceof the work that bheand her ~SUIC’IPCZ have doir. and to the enthusia?_m that *he hasengendered. -
successful Toxicants and Drugs Dynamics
Kinetics and
by Ellen 1. O’FMerr). John Wiley R Sons, 1981. f27.05 (xvi f 3V8 paipes) ISBN 0 47106047 X Most textbodtsof pharmacokineticstendto emphasize either the biological or the mathematical aspectsof the subject. with au often uneasy relationship between the two. A book which unapologeticallytackles the problems inherent in applying mathematical models to empirical biological data thereforemustat&e interest.espy clally when a treatmentof both kineticsand dynamics is found between the same covers. The purposeof Toxicants and Drugs Kinetics and Dynamics, according to its preface, is ‘to bridge the gap between pure mathematical theory. at the one extreme. and the indiscriminateapplicationof simple standardmodels to data they may not ade quately describe.at the other’. In thisobjective it is successful. Chapter I is an introduction (for the matbemalically rusty) to tbe mathemalics of kinetics and is prefaced with a useful glossaryof symbols. With admirable logic. the mathematics of saturable systems. as such, is dealt with in Cblpter 2 before all these techniques are applied in Chapters 3-5 to the kinetics of the processes of absorption. distribution and elimination under variousconditions. The theme of the three remaining chapters is pharma codynamics. covering receptor theory and time-effect and dosorrsponse relationships. II is rightly retnarked that the principle5 consideredare common to both pharmacology and toxicology. This book could be read with great profit by studentsand most otherswho work in theseareas. Each chap ter is refecnced, begins with tirst princ:L pies, is developedthroughto impurtantanu’ more complex concepts and is concluded with a wealth of problems aften derived from the Iiter;lture. but. alas. no solutions
are mcluded. The only major crlticlsm worth making is that the mathematicsand statisticsof curve fitting arc dismixd in less than IWO pages and ahhoughcomputer application\ may be outside ils scope. the lack of a more sophisticateddiscussionhcrc seemsan imprtant omission. This book is attractivelyproducd H ith a clearly written text. apt illustrationsand an
been rr~rucd in rune artlsle\ h> cxprlenced and urll-known authors\rho in gcrr era1 contrihutc thrlr oun re\ults. SIX rc\ te\\ s &al N ith punncrgic rrcepfor4 Rainergic Receptnrs ubcrca~ three re\ ieus show >pcc~dlaifin!t? edited by G. Burrrs~cuk. C%I~~IIUIII anri f&r adenosine receptors. Thuh. the term H(il!, IVNI. t23.00 (Lt 7 365 pclgt~s~ ‘purinergic’ ctjmprisc* qultr JiFermt tlP0 IS’BN 0412 I.5840 X .lf rcc’eptor’rtar adrnoame. S -AMP. ADP The presentvolume in the seriesRccrpLbrs and ATP. The problem of an mcreaainp and Recognition is devoted !:F::L field of number of nomenclature3 ior different purinergic receptors. According to the types of purinergic receptors has not yet editor the knowledge of these ieceptors is been solved. The opening article by G. Burnsli~h still in its infancy comparedto the classical receptorsof t!te autonomicnervoussystem. provides an introduction to the historical classitication of The progressmade in the last tew gearshas development and
Extensive presentation