Book Reviews

Chemical Biology of Inflammation. JOHN C. HOUCK AND BERNARD K. FORSCHER, Editors. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1967. $15.00. 337 pp. This book represents the proceedings of a conference held May 31 to June 2, 1967 at Brook Lodge, Augusta, Mich., under the sponsorship of the Upjohn Company. The material has also been published as a special supplement to Biochemical Pharmacology, March 1968. The contents are divided into six main chapters, concerned with models and methods used in the study of inflammation, immunology, inflammation at the cellular level I-Il and chemistry and biology of inflammation I-Il. In addition there is a special lecture on inflammation, topical stress and the concept of pluricausal diseases, given by Hans Selye and his coworke rs. The intent of the conference was that a small group of active workers in a specific field discuss their findings, problems and concepts in a relatively comfortable and informal atmosphere and that, as soon as possible thereafter, the intellectual fruits of this cross-fertilization be made widely available. In good cooperation with the individual participants, the editors have succeeded in the rapid harvest. It is not possible to list the titles of all of the valuable papers by the 48 participants. The reviews on ultrastructural and cytochemical characteristics of leukocytes in various stages of development, energization of lymphocytes transforming to macrophages in human inflammation and histochemical response to experimental skin injury in rats are perhaps most likely to interest readers of this journal. Rebuck, Whitehouse and Noonan have studied the energization of lymphocytes transforming to macrophages in human inflammation. They made the interesting observation that at a critical (6-14 hr) stage of inflammation, in which migration of neutrophils is equaled by migration of lymphocytes, glycogen from neutrophils is shed as cytoplasmic particulates and fragments into the exudative fluid to gain access to the lymphocytes or, more commonly, glycogen transfer was effected by neutrophil-lymphocyte apposition. Spicer, Horn and Wetzel describe ultrastructural and cytochemical characteristics of leukocytes in various stages of development. Mucosubstances, and basic proteins were demonstrated histochemicalhy and the results were compared with those obtained by autoradiography after administration of S3504. Acid and alkaline phosphatase were localized for light and electron microscopy by metal salt methods. Appropriate controls were included to validate the enzymatic nature of the reactions. Bhussry and Rao review histochemical response to experimental skin injury in rats, treated with papain and with cortisone. They could not observe any significant histologic or histochemical differences in the wounds of experimental and control animals during the first 24 hr. This is not surprising, since the histologic and histochemical methods used consisted of the following ones: hematoxylin and eosin, van Gieson stain for collagen fibers, Bielschowsky-Foot silver stain for reticular fibers periodic acid-Schiff stain for glycogen and glycoproteins and Mowry’s colloidal iron-periodic acid-Schiff procedure for acid and neutral mucopolysaccharides, supplemented with the usual enzymatic digestions. Thus, no techniques of enzyme histochemistry were applied, although other authors have shown that these very methods are able to detect and localize early functional phenomena occurring in wounds within the first