AMERICAN BOARD OF CLINICAL CHEMISTRY

of the current work available regarding the use of gonadotropins for treatment of infertility. This area is the

weakest section of the book and other, better reference material is available on gonadotropin therapy. This book is recommended as a reference to research scientists working in the field of gonadotropin chemistry, immunology, or cell biology.

Vernon C. Stevens

ments

of the human intellect. Some read almost like a detective as any good textbook account of

parts

story, scientific vignettes

discovery often should. But appear now and again to re-

mind us that these discoverers were people, and skillful writing shows us the practical import of these “pure” studies (perhaps Senator Proxmire would profit from a reading). The author, obviously a good and nonstodgy teacher,

Ohio State

University

Columbus,

Ohio 43210

grabs

that

helps

the

hydrogen

any

analogy

make

the

bond

or example

(e.g.,

point

“...

is reminiscent

L. Stryer. W. H. Free-

man and Co., San Francisco, Calif. 94104,

1975,

xii ±

877

pp. 626

illustrations. 55 tables. $19.95. There

istry textbooks-the medically slanted, the nutritionally slanted, the physiologically slanted, and some that are a catalog of not-very-clearly-related observations and data. In the fairly recent past, all of them were in the last

category,

because

mainly

biochemistry

was

a reductionist science; only it become possible to fit tofacts and observations into

lately has

gether what

is beginning

to

and

thus

interesting-whole.

more

Only a few major

be a coherent-

gaps remain,

such as

and olfaction, for example. book is a biochemist’s bio-

mentation This

chemistry

text,

the kind in which

words such as serum and urine do not even appear in the index. But it is the

kind of modern

biochemistry

struction;

book

by

text that

for, for my own in-

I have been looking

it is a thoroughly admirable an author who combines a

prodigious command of the subject with the ability to present it as lucidly as it seems

possible

for

a book

to do.

He fully delivers what his impressive academic

vard, might

credentials

(Chicago,

Cambridge,

Stanford,

lead

Har-

Yale)

us to expect.

His innovative presentation departs from the traditional order. Five themes are taken up in succession: conformation, metabolism, biosynthesis of macromolecular precursors, information, and molecular physiology. A host of fine illustrations-in color where color could be helpful-supplement, clarify, and reinforce the text.

References

are

mostly

very

recent

ones (the 1970’s, many from 1974), of two kinds: those that gently introduce the reader to more information on a particular

topic

keys to the rather sic” literature.

and

those

less-recent

that

or “clas-

reasoned experiments that produced the achievements in molecular biology (still in progress at this moment) that

the

greatest

itorial in C&E News bewailed the fact that some chemists have little or no handiwork-and from,

thus

among

public

other

are prevented

things,

spokesmen

being

able

(spokespersons?)

for chemistry. I suspect this is as true of clinical chemists as of any other

kind. For example, how many of you know how IgG differs from the other Ig’s, how antibiotics work, why cyclic AMP is important, how studies of the molecular structure of hemoglobin have explained its oxygen dissociation curve and the mechanism of sickle cell anemia, how the sodium pump is thought to work, or why glycine is such a prominent component of colla-

gen? Perhaps

not many who have

been out of school for very long, and

who go home each day too tired from the languescent challenge of producing x bits of reliable clinical data every day to meet any more challenges, such

as the challenge

I freely store

confess

of such

domly

to keep up.

that my

own

acquired

mental

was a ran-

information

It

farrago.

is

a

fine

thing to have it all synthesized for me by an expert who has gone to a great deal of Stryer’s

trouble

book

to

enjoy

do

so.

a huge

May

Dr.

success!

And may the Freeman Company long continue

to

produce

such

attractive

books, which look more like a labor of love than a commercial venture. (If you

relish

this

continuing

bit

education,

of self-updating!

you might

like

AMERICAN BOARD OF CLINICAL CHEMISTRY For details concerning cation, contact:

Board

Winston-Salem,N. C. 27103

Microanalysis in Medical Biochemistry, 5th ed. I. 0. P. Wootton. Longman, Inc., New York, N. Y. 10011, 1974, ix + 307 pp. $15.50. This

laboratory

chemistry

manual

details

analysis

the

of the

sayed

usual

in the clinical

erally,

the

in

This

for

components

as-

laboratory.

methodology

conventional.

clinical

procedures

Gen-

described

is

is a fifth edition

of

a book originally

published

That

in the past is attested to by its

in 1946.

it has been successful

and is widely used translation into several languages, including Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Serbo-Croatian. There are 17 chapters in the text covering,

subjects

and

then specifically certain selected of analytical clinical chemistry.

first,

general

areas The

more general chapters include subjects such as normal values and their variations in health and disease, quality control, and prises good

dition,

in

a discussion of what comlaboratory practice. In ad-

there

is a chapter

reporting

on units

results,

used

including

SI

units, and methods for preparing various types of standards. Also of general interest are chapters on spectropho-

tometry and automatic analysis. In the chapter on mechanized analysis, emphasis is placed on the AutoAnalyzer and the Vicker’s discrete sample analyzer. The LKB 8600 is also presented in this section. One chapter is concerned

treatment

solely

with

the

they and

reach the chemistry laboratory the method of maintenance of

laboratory are

of specimens

as

records.

methods

divided

detailed

into

in this

text

sections according

to

their relationship with other procedures. For example, there is a chapter on analysis of blood gases and electrolytes, including calcium and phosphate. Another chapter, “Organic

Constituents,”

includes

methods

of

analysis for urea, creatinine, glucose,

uric acid, and enzymes in the

galactose, Assay of

certif i-

grouped in one chapter; phosphatase, 5’-nucleotidase, notransferases, isocitrate

the amidehydroge-

nase, amylase,

and lactate

American Board of Clinical

nase. Analyses

for proteins,

Chemistry

chapter.

There

Department of Medicine

the

University of North Carolina

scribing various

Chapel

as alcohols,

27514

accomplish-

The CUNICAL

dehydrogelipids,

are each detailed

steroids

is also

bihirubin. blood is

these include

Dr. John Savory, Secretary-Treasurer

Hill, North Carolina

King

P.O. Box 5218

The

are

The author conveys the excitement that accompanied and describes the

are among

But why do I review a biochemistry textbook here? A recent (April 14) ednotion of what use is made of their

are several sorts of biochem-

J. Stanton

of a

m#{233}nage a trois”). Biochemistry,

to go even further, with another Freeman book: DNA Synthesis, by Arthur Kornberg.)

and

in a separate a chapter

de-

methods of analysis for drugs taken in overdose, such barbiturates,

analysis

CHEMISTRY,

of stool

and

aspirin.

is described

Vol. 21, No.9,

1975

in 1349

a separate chapter. This chapter includes directions for collecting 24hour specimens and for the analysis of various components of the stool, including nitrogen, lipid, and inorganic constituents. Analysis of cerebro-spinal fluid is limited to total protein, glucose, chloride, and Lange’s colloidal gold test. “Function tests,” such as the glucose tolerance test, predisone tolerance test, insulin tolerance test, and others are described in a single chapter. In each case, the procedure for the tests as well as the method of analysis

is discussed. There is also a chapter on qualitative tests commonly applied to urine, such as specific gravity, osmolality, ketone bodies, urinary proteins, porphyrins, and others, in addition to hemoglobin, melanin, and various other qualitative tests done on stool and renal calculi. The text is written in compact form and printed with no half-tones, but does contain 32 illustrations. This permits the sale at a modest price. The text is also a good example of the experiences of the author, who apparently is thoroughly familiar with the techniques of clinical chemistry and who describes the procedures in a clear, concise manner that will be readily understandable by the technician. For this reason, this book might serve as a text for a course for clinical chemical technologists.

We suggest that this book would be a valuable addition to the library of every laboratory of clinical chemistry and clinical pathology.

William

R. Nelson Samuel Natelson

Michael Chicago,

Reese Medical Ill. 60616

Center

Serumprotelne. A. Englhardt and H. Lommel, Eds. Verlag ChemieGMBH, D-6940 Weinheim/Bergstr., Germany, 1974, 230 pp. DM 52. This

is the

first

volume

vances in methods

for

in (ad-

for the clinical lab-

1350

on different

CLINICAL CHEMISTRY,

supports

are

philic

proteins

have

been

isolated

and

toplasm

and

on lipoproteins

stimulation

remain

dated. Although

the third paper, which re-

including

lipoprotein-

X and their estimation by several electrophoretic techniques. The section on enzymes and isoenzymes deals mostly

lactate

with

dehydrogenase isoenand the diagnostic implications

zymes

of the disease.

various I did

patterns observed in not see anything here

that was particularly

novel.

The analysis of various antibodies is described, including antibodies to erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets.

The

determination

(“Australia”)

antigen

is the immunodiffusion

for

hepatitis

that

is described

method.

B The

widely used radioimmunoassay od for the hepatitis antigen

meth-

is mentioned but not described. Finally, there is a brief description of methods used for tissue antibodies, and for antibodies to thyroglobulin.

in both the cyof androgen tar-

nucleus

get organs, but conclude lecular

events

that the mo-

produced to

by androgen

be fully eluci-

views the mechanism of action of hypothalamic-releasing hormones in the anterior pituitary gland, covers an extensive literature, it is only of peripheral interest to gonadal hormone action. Its major contribution is a sche-

matic proposed mode of action of hypothalamic-releasing hormones in the adenohypophyseal cell. The fourth paper is concerned with phosphoprotein metabolism in primary and accessory sex tissues. The phosphorylation of nuclear proteins, histones and nonhistone proteins and their relation to

protein

phosphokinase

reactions

in

many

references

in the

the cell is extensively discussed. The role of phosphoproteins in the ovary, oviduct, uterus, mammary gland, testis, and prostate is explored to gain

book to the recent

literature

(to Ca.

some knowledge

1971). The language

barrier

There

are

is not very

high. Much useful information

can be

gleaned from the many tables, graphs, and figures by the non-Germanspeaking clinical chemist.

John A. Lott Ohio

State Columbus,

University Ohio 43210

MolecularMechanisms of Gonadal Hormone Action.Advances in Sex Hormone Research, 1. J. A. Thomas and R. L. Singhal, Eds. University

nuclear

of the metabolism

phosphoproteins

in

of

these

tissues. The author suggests that modification of nonhistone proteins (chromatin) by phosphorylation may be involved in regulatory roles including the modulation of transcription in responsive cells. An excellent review of the canine prostate and its secretion is the

subject of the fifth paper. Stimulating agents, control of secretion by the autonomic nervous system, collection, composition, and formation of pros-

Park Press, Baltimore, Md. 21202, 1975, x + 399 pp. $32.50.

tatic fluid are covered in detail. A section on the secretion of foreign chemicals, including alcohol, in the prostatic

The editors state that a critical review of specific advances in the field

fluid is of interest. The next paper, on the effects of pesticides on reproduc-

of sex hormones is long overdue. The present volume features a selection of

tion, is obviously concerned with the effects upon the endocrine system of the millions of tons of chemicals such as DDT, dieldrin, and aldrin that have been sprayed over the world in the past 30 years. From the review it is clear that pesticides affect mammalian reproductive organs and that or-

describing

model

sysbems

for the study of uptake and metabolic effects of gonadal hormones on several target

and

tissues.

concepts

consists

trophoresis

androgen

characterized

patterns, etc. Electrophoresis

immunoelec-

in the prostate .gland and other androgen target organs. The authors point out that specific andro-

abnormal

partially

special attention nisms of action

and

and

The chapter on two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis of proteins is particularly attractive and well illustrated. There are five short chapters

which deals entirely with the of protein found in serum or plasma. There are 29 chapters, all by different authors. Each chapter more or less follows the same format of description and principles of the method of analysis, normal values (where they apply), and clinical interpretations of the findings. There are numerous figures and photographs, all reproduced with good clarity, which illustrate the appearance of the electropherogram, the appearance of immunodiffusion

oratory), analysis

normal

proteins. There are several chapters describing radial immunodiffusion techniques and variations thereof.

10 papers

of a series

entitled “Methodische Fortschritte Medizinischen Laboratorium”

described

the molecular

Current

are

methodology

emphasized,

and

is paid to the mechaof steroid hormones at

level.

The first paper, on the formation and metabolism of glycosides of steroid hormones, presents evidence that steroid conjugates can function as metabolic intermediates and that the formation of a conjugate at a given position on the steroid molecule may in-

fluence its subsequent metabolism. Androgen binding and metabolism is covered in the second paper, which tionships tabolism,

Vol. 21, No. 9, 1975

of a survey

of the basic

rela-

concerning the uptake, melocalization, and binding of

ganochlorides

are

more

toxic

than

organophosphates or carbamates. A scholarly and extensive review

cyclic AMP responses

paper.

and accessory

is presented

Considerable

of

sex organ

in the seventh

evidence,

replete

with schematic cycles, is presented to question the earlier belief that steroid hormones act independently of the cyclic AMP system. Apparently exogenous cyclic AMP has the ability to initiate, regulate, and maintain several of the gonadal-steroid-dependent metabolic responses in accessory reproductive tissues. This paper is followed by