Experimental Pharmacogenetics

Furthermore, Dr. Moulder is able to make the reader realize that the problem has considerable theoretical and practical value and is not just an exercise in semantics. It is a stimulating book. Investigators in a wide variety of fields will find this short volume an extremely useful reference book. The purpose of the monograph was to bring together the known biochemical and structural inherited disorders in laboratory animals that might be of research interest. Nearly all of the text is concerned with genetically determined variations in the mouse, rat, rabbit, and hamsters. While most of the monograph consists of a very concise description of these abnormalities or variations in response, longer and particularly stimulating discussions are presented of hereditary diabetes mellitus in the Chinese hamster and the comparative aspects of blood coagulation. Areas in which little research has been done are frequently pointed out. The author emphasizes the need for more careful selection of experimental animals in view of the marked variation in response between both species and strains, as well as the concomitant need for more investigation of the genomes of laboratory animals. While these various abnormalities may provide extremely useful models for the study of human disease and pharmacology it should be recalled that in no case has the biochemical or genetic identity of similar abnormalities in man and a particular laboratory animal been established. An excellent index (nine pages) and bibliographiy (23 pages) insure the usefulness of this monograph as a reference book. a series of papers including one by the reviewer were given as reports in the plenary sessions of the First International Congress on Histochemistry and Cytochemistry in Paris. It took more than three years to get these papers published. Some of the chapters are interesting, lengthy and rather complete reviews, others are opinionated precis of the notions and experiences of the authors. None of them can be viewed as up-to-date. It is therefore impossible to recommend this book except to histochemists who might have some interest in it for historical reasons.