TRENDS in Cell Biology Vol.11 No.6 June 2001

http://tcb.trends.com

274 ForumForumForumForumForum

Art or science?

Principles and Techniques of Electron

Microscopy

by M.A. Hayat, 2000, Cambridge UniversityPress. $55.00 hbk/$20.00 pbk (541 pages) ISBN 0 521 63287 0/0 442 25694 9

Contrary to popular belief, the art ofelectron microscopy (EM) has been quietlyreplaced over the past 20 years and hasbeen turned into a powerful quantitativeand analytical scientific discipline. Thisquiet revolution in methods of specimenpreparation, equipment development andthe understanding of high-resolutionmorphology has resulted in a powerfuland objective set of tools ideally suited tomolecular cell biologists.

In this exciting climate of change, a bookintroducing both experienced and noviceelectron microscopists to the new EMtechnologies should find a large and eageraudience. Professor Hayat promises suchwith this new book, acknowledging theobsolescence of some established proceduresand offering a new approach to EM textbooksby presenting practical details as well ascovering the theoretical principles of modernapproaches to specimen preparation.Unfortunately, this book missed the boat onits aims and might even help relegate EMback onto the walls of art galleries to be thepreserve of a few gifted people and not propelit into general use and the frontline scientificjournals where it belongs.

Why is this so? – especially when Hayat isa respected author of EM textbooks, and thisis the fourth edition of a popular EM text.The book is obviously a work of effort andenthusiasm from the hands of an expert. Thetext includes extremely detailed chapters oncolloidal gold, low-temperature methods andapplications involving microwave processors.These augment equally detailed chapterscovering more classical subjects such aschemical fixation, dehydration andembedding, specimen support films, stainingmethods and thin sectioning. An additional,and oddly placed, chapter is added to coverthe methods involved with preparing andimmunolabeling plant tissues for EM.

The problems come not from the chapterscovering the more traditional or classicsubjects, which I found to be extremelyuseful and learned something every time Ilooked into them. Instead, they come from

the chapters covering the newer specimen-preparation methods. They are writtenpartially in the style of a scientific text,where statements are attributed to specificsources, and partially as a dogmaticteaching text. Despite being a poor choice fora single-author book, both styles fail badlywhen not carefully proofread for accuracyand for inclusion of specific facts. This iswhere the book fails to achieve its aims.

For a book proposing to offer informationto novices, and presumably providesufficient information to get them started, itis surprising that there is both omission ofimportant information as well as factualinaccuracies. This is unfortunate in atextbook destined for a world market richwith many potential new microscopists.

Glaring examples of omission are presentthroughout. Perhaps the most obvious is thatgold quantitation (and related stereology) isnot discussed – subjects that deserve achapter of their own in a book such as this.

Amore-specific omission can beillustrated by taking an example from thechapter on colloidal gold. There is amicrograph of a thawed cryosection labeledwith three different antibodies visualizedusing gold particles of three different sizes.This micrograph is a good example ofmultiple labeling on cryosections and issimilar to images that appear routinely inthe current scientific literature. However,the text surrounding the micrograph doesnot attempt to explain how this labeling wasproduced, restricting itself to only describingdouble labeling of resin sections usingmethods that cannot work if threeantibodies are used. This limited coverage ofmultiple labeling, in addition to ignoring themany methods available toimmunocytochemists, also results in afailure to discuss the problems involved withthe few methods described.

The approach to low-temperaturemethods is confusing and inaccurate.Insufficient distinction is made betweenfreezing biological material in a fullyhydrated state and freezing fixed andcryoprotected samples. Preparingcryosections for immunocytochemistry is notwell explained and neither is freezesubstitution. Sometimes the wrong advice isgiven, which means that the protocol will notwork. Both these methods are importanttools for microscopists, especially those newto the field who will be looking specifically forexplanations of these methods.

Microwave technology is relegated todescriptions of effects caused by heating,with no discussion of other effects ofmicrowave energy on the specimen. Much ismade of the use of microwaves in antigenretrieval, which is still experimental at theEM level and more dependent on thebiological system under study than thespecific protocol applied. Yet the rapid resin-embedding methods that use microwaveprocessors to take wet biological material toresin-embedded, ready-to-section blocks inless than four hours are barely mentioned.This innovation is probably one of the moreimportant uses of microwave processors inan EM laboratory today.

The perceived loss of specific skills inbiological EM throughout the scientificcommunity will mean that many beginnerswill take the publicity claims of the book toheart and read it. This is where the bookwill fail in its mission of describingtechniques and the underlying principles tothe uninitiated. How will these readersavoid wasting time trying out protocolsthat will not work or looking for equipmentthat does not exist if there is no expert tohelp them interpret the book?

In my opinion, Hayat should not onlyrely on his own expertise when writingthese books but should also subject his workto the eyes of critical scientific colleagueswilling to carefully and ruthlessly read thechapters prior to publication.

Paul Webster

Ahmanson Advanced Electron Microscopyand Imaging Center, House Ear Institute,2100 West Third Street, Los Angeles,CA 90057, USA.e-mail: pwebster@hei.org

Proceeding to the death

Apoptosis in Health and Disease

Edited by R.R. Ruffolo, Jr and F. Walsh.Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000.£53/$80 hbk (249 pages) ISBN 90 5823 086 4

When a conference is held on a specialistsubject, with experts gathered fromaround the globe, the question arises ofwhether the proceedings should bepublished. Such books offer opportunities –but also pose risks. Publication mightallow a far wider audience to benefit from

Book Review