Progress in Dermatoglyphic Research

summer of 1981. It is a timely, informative, and, above all, useful reflection of recent advances in pH measurement and studies utilizing these methods. It suffers, as do all books of proceedings, from the narrowness of the individual reports. The editors have to some degree ameliorated this problem by including short discussions at the end of each of the three sections, comparing the various techniques and results. Much of this comparison is in table form, helpful to the scientist considering use of these techniques. These chapters were placed at the end of each section because they represent, ostensibly, a sense of the actual discussion at the conference. Since they serve the valuable function of putting the reports in perspective, however, the editors might have done us more service by placing them at the beginning of each section, affording the outsider a feel for what is to come. The three sections of the book cover techniques of pH measurement, studies on regulation of intracellular pH, and studies on the role of pH in the control of cell physiology and development. The technique papers cover measurements on single cells by microelectrodes and fluorescent probes and measurements on cell populations by weak electrolyte distribution, 31P nuclear magnetic resonance, and light absorption and fluorescence. The "how to" sections on pH microelectrodes are very good in description of actual apparatus, and, in general, the authors and editors have done an outstanding job in including photographs and diagrams of apparatus. The sections on nuclear magnetic resonance are very good in indicating just how powerful this technique is and suggesting some applications for what will surely be an extremely important and also medically relevant technique. The second and third sections, on pH regulation and the role of pH in the control of cellular functions, cover recent studies on cell systems from across the animal kingdom, from sea urchins, snails, and barnacles up to mammals, including man. They give examples of how the various techniques are utilized, and what kinds of information can be obtained. But the phylogenetic disparity seems to highlight the similarity among all cells; they appear to regulate pH carefully and are willing to expend energy in order to do so. Changes in these basal levels accompany a variety of cell functions and may in fact exert an essential part of the control of these processes. Their precise role in regulation remains to be elucidated. Throughout this book the importance of compartmentalization in eukaryotic cells is largely ignored. When the authors speak of intracellular pH, they really mean cytoplasmic pH. Full understanding of the underlying processes in the pH response will have to account for the response at the organelle level as well as the cellular level. In a sense they must return to Mitchell: How does cytoplasmic pH regulate mitochondrial energy transduction? This book suggests some ways to look at these problems, but the answers remain in the future.