BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION April 1979 Vol. 7 No. 3 43

Essays in Neuroehemistry and Neuropharmaeology. Volume 3 Edi t ed by M. B. H. Y o u d i m , W . L o v e n b e r g , D . F. S h a r m a n a n d F . R. L a g n a d o . Pp 228. J o h n Wi ley a n d

Sons , C h i c h e s t e r a n d New York . 1978. £10 .50 .

Proceedings of the European Society for Neurochemistry. Volume 1 Edi t ed by V. N e u h o f f . Pp 658. Ver l ag C h e m i c , W e i n h e i m a n d New York . 1978. D M 88.

The two books under scrutiny here represent distinct approaches to updating the reader on the current neurochemical literature. Essays in Neurochemistry and Neuropharmacology has been reviewed in these columns before and the teething troubles of earlier volumes, such as poor proof-reading, appear to have been remedied in this volume. In general the essays are well written and would be suitable for postgraduate workers in neurochemistry, al though the tendency to resort to neurochemical jargon may limit the value of these essays for undergraduates and novitiates in the field. The emphasis of these essays has been heavily biased towards monoamines such as the catecholamines and indoleamines despite the fact that these compounds are transmitters at only a small percentage of central neurons. In this respect the essays reflect both the bias of the editors and probably of neurochemists in general. The cholinergic biochemist may justifiably feel that he has been given a raw deal in this series so far. I hope that future editions will redress the balance.

The present volume is no exception in its bias towards mono- amines. Four of the six essays are devoted to such topics, although the increasing importance of understanding the interactions between monoamines and other neuronal systems are given consideration in an essay by Lloyd. The other articles on monoamine transmitters include discussions of the precursor control of serotonin synthesis (Green) and the feedback control of monoamine neurons (Aghajanian). The major article in this volume is concerned with platelets as models of monoaminergic neurons and the author (Pletscher) critically discusses both the value and limitations of such an analogy. The final two essays are concerned respectively with the role that nerve growth factor plays in neuronal development and with brain proteins and memory. Overall a rather unbalanced selection of essays and probably more of interest to the converted monoamine biochemist. In its way though, a promising series.

Proceedings of the European Society for Neurochemistry represents an unusual publishing event but one that we may expect to become more common. The book is a collection of papers from invited speakers at the 2nd meeting of the European Society for Neurochemistry held in G6ttingen in August 1978. The book also includes abstracts of all the poster presentations at the meeting (some 200 of them) and the whole volume runs to about 650 pages. What is unusual about this book is that it was published before the meeting from camera-ready manuscripts provided by the authors with the aim of promoting increased discussion at the meeting. While this is admirable for those who attended the meeting, it is far less so for the armchair biochemist who did not attend. The major disadvantage is that many of the articles are too short to be anything other than a cursory review of the literature. Where experimental results are discussed, the details provided are generally insufficient to assess the data - - indeed many of the abstracts consist of little more than half-a-dozen sentences. Furthermore because of the number of different subject areas that are dealt with, the coverage of any one area is not substantial. In this respect it lacks the cohesion that is obtained from symposia volumes devoted to a single subject. Another disadvantage of this type of book is that the volume lacks uniformity because of the variety of type faces employed and since only limited editing has occurred, the English of a number of articles is poor. There are four major symposia topics that are included: myelin and myelin disorders; factors influencing neuronal development; neuro- chemistry of hypoxia; neurochemistry of addictive drugs. In

addition there are shorter articles on the role of peptides in brain function, dendritic axonal and transneuronal transport, the value of nerve cell cultures for neurochemical research and finally techniques for the assay of amines and their metabolites. In summary, this volume is unlikely to be of value to you unless you attend the meeting itself.

A. J. Turner

Amino Acids as Chemical Transmitters E d i t e d by F rode F o n n u m . Pp xii + 747 ( N A T O A d v a n c e d

S tudy I n s t i t u t e Series , Series A" Life Sc iences . P l e n u m

Press , New Y o r k a n d L o n d o n , 1978). £31 .18 .

This book is Volume 16 in the NATO Advanced Study Institute Series and represents the proceedings of the meeting on Amino Acids as Chemical Transmit ters which took place in Norway in August 1977. In all it contains 51 papers ranging from short reports on preliminary data to much longer papers, and is divided into seven sections dealing respectively with morphology; electrophysiology and neuropharmacology; localization; uptake, synthesis and release; receptor binding; functional and metabolic aspects.

Inevitably there are differences in layout and style of writing from paper to paper which makes continuous reading of the book from cover to cover a rather laborious task. It is easier to dip into the book, pursuing a specific topic such as receptor binding, role of glial cells, etc. Although there is a seven page index to assist the reader, it is by no means exhaustive, and for instance, under the heading Glia cells, there is no reference to the paper on electron cytochemistry on page 49 which describes the presence of the GABA-T enzyme in cerebellar glial cells. Additionally, while some of the papers have a useful, brief, summary or conclusion, others do not, again emphasis ing the unevenness in style.

These are not, however, major criticisms and I think that anyone interested in the neurochemistry or neurophysiology of synaptic transmission would want to read this book. However at a price in excess of £30 ! cannot imagine it finding many private buyers, but as a library volume for reference purposes it is certainly worth considering.

Nell Davidson Physiological Laboratory University of Aberdeen Marischal College Aberdeen, Scotland

Topics in Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics Volume 2 Edi t ed by G. Mi lazzo . Pp 204. J o h n Wi ley a n d Sons ,

C h i c h e s t e r a n d New York , 1978. £13 .00 or $25 .90 .

Th i s is the second volume of a series concerned with electro- chemical processes and energy transduction in biological systems, and the techniques used for their investigation. In this present volume the subjects covered are Mechanisms of Membrane Excitability, Electrokinetic Phenomena in Biology, A Potential Controlled Gating Mechanism in Fixed Charge Membrane Modules, Analytical Electrophoresis, Electrical Events During Active Transport of Ions through Biological Membranes and Semi- conducting Biopolymers and their Part in Biochemical Phenomena.

The reviewer can find very little to criticise in the articles presented by investigators well versed in their particular area. They are well written covering the subject matter in a comprehensive manner. This volume should be of interest to biophysicists, electro- chemists, biochemists and to biologists whose experience and training has included the physical sciences.

M. J. Allen Depar tment of Physiology School of Agriculture University of Nott ingham, U.K.