314

barrier is grounded in a descrip- ti1.e phcnomenological context, yet it is important in this field to esaluate mechanisms of peptide transcytos+ through the btond- brain barrier and to differentiate this process from peptide seqges- tration at the endothelium. This chapter might have included a more detailed review of the pass-

ible mechanisms of peptide trans- port through the barrier; that is, transcytosis compared with a para-cellular route. It is not clear if the authors believe that peptides may cross the barrirr via a para- ceUular pathway.

Chapters 4 and 5 constitute the remainder of the book.

Chapter 4 addresses the transport of some precursors of nucleotides and some vitamins in the brain, and largely reviews the work of Spector; it again emphasizes the fundamental similarities of the blood-brain barrier and choroid plexus. Chapter 5 addresses ex- perimental models and the study o; :+ pathology of the barrier, and essL-&ially discusses two models th..t have been studied by the autho’s - amphetamine in- toxication and experimental allergic encephalomyeiitis.

The book is well illustrated and well refer :nced with approxi- mately 7’0 citations given in alphabeti-al order at the end of

TlPS - August 1993 (Vol. 141

each chapter, and more than 70% of these pertain to Chapters 1 and 3. In summary, this book is an excellent introduction to the phenomenology of blood-brain barrier transport, an understand- ing of which is an obligatory first step for elucidating the cellular and molecular biological mechan- isms of transport across this barrier. The book will be of interest to all scientists who come in con- tact with the interface between blood and brain.

WILLIAM M. PARDRIDGE

Brnir~ Rescnrch htituh, UCLA 5clrool of Mdiciw, Los A~zgelcs, CA 90024, USA.

Murder, he wrote Murder, Magic and Medicine

by jokn Mnttn, O@ord Utzizwsify Press, 1992. f16.95 (iv 4 232 pfzgesl lSBN 0 19 355561 X

john Mann is Professor of Organic Chernistry at Reading University and this book is an interesting mixture of science and ethnology with a good leavening of plant lore and anecdote. I was person- ally attracted into the study of pharmacology by a book on plant poisons, and it is to be hoped that Mtmter, Mttgic and Medicine will have a similar effect on students. l-iowever, this book is obviously meant for a general audience and I would warmly recommend it as such, although the opening intro- duction to basic cell biology and pharmacology is, in my view, a mistake and may well deter the layman. In contrast to the rest of the book, this section is rather flat and tries rather unsilccessfutly to introduce too many concepts into too small a space. The excitement of modern pharmacology is missing here.

The storytelling is good and brings together the many strands of drug lore and history; I par- ticularly enjoyed revisiting the history of poisons such as atro- pine, hyoscine, physostigmine and strychnine. The more recently identified marine, reptilian and microbial toxins are treated rather perfunctorily and structures are strangely absent from this section, ~though Mann notes the import- ant role these toxins have played in defining membrane channel pharmacology and structure. It is

strange to reflect that the murder and mayhem associated with the plant alkaloids and animal toxins eventually led to a revolution in our knowledge of cell function and drug treatment.

The later sections of the book encompass ‘magic’ (stimulants, psychomimetics and inebriants) and ‘medicine’ {pharmacy and the pharmacopoeia). It seems rather pointless to have separated the discussion of centrally active drugs from the ‘magic’ section but the storyline is maintained throughout. The penicillin saga is retold but with the personalities and conflicts being sketched rather than drawn. Similarly, the stories of the discovery of the modes of action of aspirin and of morphine fall short of conveying the excitement involved in those studies. I was interested to read

that it was ‘obvious’ that the brain must make its own endogenous morphine once the morphine receptor was localized by binding studies. Apart from the historical distortion - the search for the enkephalins in fact started before the binding studies were published - there is a failure to mention the contributions of Avram Goldstein, ET~C Simon and Lars Terenius. This is perhaps unfair on the author, since the very comprehen- sive nature of this book precludes the inclusion of the detail I would demand in a historical treatise, but why mention Snyder and not Terenius who published first? It has often been the power of an mstitution’s or individual’s pub- licity machine that has moulded public opinion in medicine - wit- ness the distortions in the peni- cillin story catised by the cham- pionship of Fleming by St Mary’s Hospital. Perhaps Professor Mann would consider an additional chapter on this aspect of medicine in his next edition.

This book tells a fascinating and complex story that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in drugs. Many of the figures are rather uninformative and textbook dull; for example, the mechanism of action of peni- ciilin is far from clear after looking at the figure depicting it. The addition of colour would have transfo~ed this text - but prob- ably also the price, which is good value.

JOHN HUGHES

Parke-Davis Nettroscience Research Certtre, Addcn~rook~‘~ ~~s~it~~ Site, Hills Road, Cambridge, UK C32 2QS.