The Novartis Foundation Series is a popular collection of the proceedings from Novartis Foundation Symposia, in which groups of leading scientists from a range of topics across biology, chemistry and medicine assembled to present papers and discuss results. The Novartis Foundation, originally known as the Ciba Foundation, is well known to scientists and clinicians around the world.
Fluorescence microscopy is used for studying the distribution of substances which are present in very small amounts, for example in living cells. This magnificent new work provides comprehensive cover of all aspects of fluorescence microscopy - including instrumentation, applications, and the history of the technique. The first volume deals with instrumentation and techniques for fluorescence microscopy, and includes a chapter on quantification and scanning. The second volume deals with the applications of fluorescence microscopy in many fields. It includes information on autofluorescence, and an invaluable appendix provides an alphabetical list of fluorochromes, giving information concerning chemical structure, fluorescence properties, applications and suitable filter combinations.
During recent years enzyme histochemical reactions have increasingly been considered as important, the reason being that enzyme histo chemistry is now a well-established link between morphology and bio chemistry. The development of numerous new methods and in particular the improvement of existing techniques contributed to the expansion of enzyme histochemical reactions. Today, the use of these methods allows detailed insight into molecular processes of single cells and their constituents. The selection of a suitable method for enzyme histochemical investigations needs thorough knowledge and critical evaluation of the reactions de scribed for the histochemical demonstration of enzymes and introduced in laboratory practice. Often, it is difficult for scientists primarily concerned with the application of methods and for laboratory assistants to comment on the value of an enzyme histochemical reaction. Our book will serve as a guide in this respect. It contains the most important histochemical methods for the localization of enzymes, all of which were checked by the authors themselves. These methods were often modified and frequently used for numerous different investigations of healthy and diseased organs in basic research and in routine practice.
Histochemistry: An Explanatory Outline of Histochemistry and Biophysical Staining describes the histochemical staining of cells and tissues as a major tool applied in biological and medical investigations, both in basic research and in practical applications such as clinical diagnosis. The book may be considered as a guide to understanding the scientific basis of staining procedures and alternate actions to take when common methods do not proceed as expected. The first chapter gives general theoretical ideas from which most part of the book is largely organized around. As the book considers the arts and crafts making up the practice of histochemistry and biological staining, emphasis is given to the common physicochemical aspects of the technically diverse methodologies involved. Hence, the author has drawn ideas and information from physicochemically and biochemically related fields, such as chromatography, pharmacology, photography, tanning, and textile dyeing. The bulk of the book is structured around groups of practical procedures, such as fixation, staining with dyestuffs, metal impregnation, and selective extraction as a test of significance. Lastly, general essays on the usefulness of staining theories and on the problems arising from reagent impurities are given as examples. The text is suitable for students and researchers in the fields of physiology, biochemistry, and pharmacology. Clinical laboratory scientists and those involved in the life sciences and biotechnology will benefit from reading the book.
The meeting on experimental hepatocarcinogenesis which took place in Spa, Belgium at the end of May 1987 was the Second European Meeting. About 100 scientists, mostly from Europe but also from the United States, met there for three days in a very friendly atmosphere to exchange knowledge and ideas on experimental and human liver carcinogenesis. The main topics discussed during the meeting included general reviews on hepatocarcinogenesis, experimental models of hepa tocarcinogenesis, biology of hepatocarcinogenesis, and in vitro studies in hepatocarcinogenesis. They are all covered by the various chapters of this proceedings volume, which reflects the present state of knowledge in this important field of cancer research. The final aim of that research is to understand the basic mechanisms of carcinogenesis. The liver offers a parti cularly interesting tool to reach such a goal. Indeed, its biochemistry, its morphology, and its physiology are very diverse, but relatively well known. Various protocols have been developed to produce hepatocellular carcinomas or other malignant tumors. Their appearance is most often preceded by phenotypically altered foci and nodules which have been isolated and characterized. The major cell populations of normal, neoplastic, and malignant livers have been cultivated.
As a satellite to the 27th meeting of the Society for Neuroscience held October 28 in New Orleans, this symposium was dedicated to Dr. Margaret T.T. Wong-Reiley, developer of the method of cytochrome oxidase histochemical mapping of metabolism in the brain, on the 20th anniversary of this breakthrough. In this first ever compilation of papers applying this technique to the study of Alzheimer's, the 22 contributors--including Dr. Wong-Reiley--overview the role of cytochrome oxidase in cellular energy metabolism and neuronal activity and the methodology for its study via specific application examples. Part II treats the hypothesis that cytochrome inhibition may predict potential neurodegeneration, through discussions of animal models and genetic vulnerability of regions of the brain. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Worldwide, numerous textbooks and publications have dealt with research on muscle fibres carried out under different points of view. In addition, comprehensive works such as Myology (Engel and Franzini-Armstrong 1994), Disorders of Voluntary Muscle (Walton et al. 1994), and Skeletal Muscle (Schmalbruch 1985) as a volume ofthe work Handbook of Microscopic Anatomy, have been published. Moreover, proceedings from myology symposiums give us access to the present state of the art in muscle research. The book The Dynamic State of Muscle Fibres (Pette 1990a) summarizes the contributions to the symposium of the same name, which was held in Constance in 1989. Considering these outstanding works one has to ask the question: Why do we need the present book? The first reason is that results from ongoing research expand scientific knowledge continuously. When dealing with muscle research one soon realizes that muscle tissue is a fascinating subject, whose secrets have not yet been revealed completely. The application of new techniques in muscle fibre research enables and provokes us to go deeper into the nature of muscle tissue. The results are findings that add a new dimension to what is already known. For instance, the detailed metabolic charac terization of muscle fibre types in the context of an intact histological section has been performed only recently using cytophotometrical quantification of enzyme activities. The second reason for this book is of a more pragmatic nature.
