PLASTICITY OF MUSCLE Edited by Dirk Pette, MD, 625 pp, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 1980. $94.50

There is general agreement that muscle fibers exhibit covarying characteristics that define different fiber types which have apparent functional utility. However, the exact nature of the different fiber types, their generation and maintenance, and their response to perturbations, continue to elude, and therefore, to fascinate, a wide spectrum of biologists. This volume includes 43 papers presented at a symposium held on these issues in Sep- tember, 1979. The papers are all relatively short and the majority concentrate on recent experimental findings reported in traditional format (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion). However, there are a number of papers that review particular areas more broadly, help- ing to put the more detailed material into context (for example, A. G. Weeds on myosin polymorphism, R. G. Whalen on myosin changes during development, S. Sal- mons on effects of chronic electrical stimulation, and A. L. Goldberg on regulation of protein turnover).

The papers in this volume fall into two general classes. About half are studies of normal mammalian or avian muscle, either mature or during myogenesis. The latter include several on developmental issues examined in tissue culture systems. The remaining papers concen- trate on alterations of mature muscle that can be pro- duced by various experimental treatments, including di- rect injury, denervation, reinnervation by the same or by foreign motor axons, chronic electrical stimulation of innervated or denervated muscles, manipulations de- signed to induce overusage or underusage, and changes in the level of thyroid hormones. There are a few papers that examine effects of altered conditions on developing muscle, both in situ and in tissue culture systems, and two on alterations in cardiac muscle. In all this there is a rather heavy emphasis on biochemical methodologies (including immunohistochemistry in this category), al- though conventional histochemical and physiological studies are represented also. There is little material on muscle structure, per se. Many of the discussions take the view that muscle fiber usage is the critical factor that produces and maintains the biochemical, mechanical, and structural differences between fiber types but a few note that trophic substances secreted by motoneurons,

while not very popular at the moment, may nevertheless play some role in this.

The hook illustrates both advantages and disadvan- tages of multiple author symposium monographs. On the positive side is the overall high quality of work pre- sented, which includes some very interesting and significant recent results that are only now being pub- lished fully elsewhere. A number of papers discuss state of the art methods of muscle research, including recent developments in microchemical studies of single muscle fibers (even fibers that belong to individual motor units), immunohistochemistry of myosin components, and tis- sue culture systems. For the specialist, this volume repre- sents a convenient collection of research reports that are, or soon will he, scattered through many journals in the standard literature. It is very useful to be thus alerted to current muscle research in several distinct disciplines.

On the negative side, the volume will make rather heavy reading for the nonspecialist. Much of the mate- rial consists of detailed observations reported in ab- breviated format with relatively little contextual discus- sion. i n general, the hook does not convey an easily as- similated overview of the field of muscle plasticity. All of the contributions were prepared prior to the symposium and thus represent the “status quo ante.” While this facilitates relatively rapid publication (the hook ap- peared just about one year after the meeting), the papers do not reflect modifications of viewpoint which may have resulted from interactions during the symposium. It would have been useful if the hook had included a sum- mary of major points of consensus, or of continuing controversy, that emerged from the discussion sessions.

Virtually all of the papers are based on animal studies and there is very little material in this volume of direct clinical relevance. Nevertheless, its content is of sufficiently high overall quality to interest any serious student of muscle and its response to altered conditions, many of which are, of course, encountered in clinical practice. The papers were photographically reproduced directly from the authors’ manuscripts but the general quality of illustrations, text, and binding are quite ac- ceptable. However, the price of the book is certainly very high in relation to its size and production features, which will presumably limit its appeal.

ROBERT E. BURKE, MD Bethesda, Maryland

MUSCLE 8, NERVE February 1982 183