volume deals with tooth development, tissue changes during eruption, the development, structure ... really understood how human enamel prisms form!
Book Reviews
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presentation of differences between chondrocranium and membrane bones in a figure which I can only suppose got lost in later phases of assembly of the manuscript. But, despite these shortcomings, I learned much from the book as a whole, and found the idiosyncratic presentation thought-provoking even where I might not agree with the conclusion. I would recommend it to the student of dentistry and oral surgery who seeks the purpose of oral structure, and thus also to any teacher of the anatomy of the region. R. PRESLEY
Teeth. Edited by A. OKscHE and L. VOLLRATH. Handbook of Microscopic Anatomy, Volume V/6. (Pp. xvi + 560; numerous illustrations; DM.580.) Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. 1989. There have been no comprehensive syntheses of the microscopic organisation of dental tissues for many years. The last account in the Springer Handbook of Microscopic Anatomy series was in 1936 entitled The Teeth by Lehner and Plenk, whilst the most recent advanced synthesis was the two volume series edited by AEW Miles entitled Structural and Chemical Organisation of Teeth. Therefore, the publication of a new volume reviewing in detail the microscopic anatomy of dental tissues is to be greatly welcomed. This book provides a comprehensive synthesis of the structure, ultrastructure and biochemical organisation of many of the dental tissues. It is detailed in its coverage, extensive in its referencing of the literature, published on extremely high quality paper and has excellent illustrations. As such, it is to be highly recommended. It is a great pity that the cost of the book will preclude most investigators and teachers (and even some libraries) from purchasing it! Nonetheless, it is worth acquiring. Despite this overall praise for the book, it does have some shortcomings. The most serious is that it is not comprehensive. For reasons of expediency (which are outlined in the preface by the editors) Springer Verlag chose to split their treatment of teeth into two volumes. The present volume deals with tooth development, tissue changes during eruption, the development, structure and ultrastructure of enamel, dentine and the dental pulp, with a general section on biomineralisation of dental tissues. However, the treatment of the periodontium, cementum, alveolar bone, and the gingiva is dealt with in a separate volume (V/5 The Periodontium) in this series, written by Professor Schroeder and published in 1986. Separation of the topics in this way leads to some major omissions and the absence of a truly synthetic approach. Thus, the mineralising tissues of enamel, dentine, cementum and bone are dealt with in two separate books, and many of the differences and similarities between these are therefore lost. Moreover, there is no consideration of the development of the dentition as a whole (as opposed to the individual development and structure of tooth components). No consideration is given to dentition fields, the establishment of pattern throughout the dentition, or the development of the dentition as a functional unit, including detailed considerations of eruptive sequences etc. The present volume, whilst extensively referenced and very synthetic, contains very few references after 1985 (I counted two). One therefore forms the impression that the book has been a long time in press. Collectively, the chapters are excellent at reviewing known data on the structure and ultrastructure of the various dental tissues. The treatment of the descriptive microscopic literature is excellent. By contrast, the treatment of the experimental mechanistic literature is poor. There are few references to developmental mechanisms, such as detailed considerations of epithelial mesenchymal interactions, during tooth development. There are no considerations of growth factors and recent data on extracellular matrix components (such as collagen Types 1-12, syndecan, tenascin etc) are completely absent. In many cases, the absence of these experimental and modern immunocytochemical and microbiochemical data correlate with an absence of recent references. Thus, Frank in his consideration of the origin of the dental papilla says that there is as yet no evidence for the neural crest origin of these cells in mammals. This is not true. Experimental work from Lumsden in the past few years has addressed this problem, illustrating that, indeed, dental papilla mesenchyme cells are of neural crest origin. The book would have been greatly strengthened by either an additional chapter, or additions to each of the present chapters, detailing recent work on cell-cell, cell matrix interactions and autocrine, paracrine interactions of growth factors and matrix molecules during tooth development. Thesleff has recently provided three reviews of these topics in the journal literature.
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Book Reviews
My favourite chapter was the one on enamel by Alan Boyde. This is a truly masterly account of the microstructure of enamel and how it develops in various vertebrates. The questions of species specificity in enamel formation are very well dealt with and, for the first time, I think I really understood how human enamel prisms form! Boyde also extended his analysis to consider some of the diseases and clinical implications of enamel and its structure, such as caries, acid etching and calculus. The chapter is spectacularly illustrated with stunning scanning and transmission electron micrographs, together with back-scatter electron images, conventional histology etc. Enamel formation is always something which causes problems for undergraduate dental students, and I will certainly refer the Manchester students to this chapter for detailed information. In general, this is a welcome volume and can be strongly recommended for library purchase, postgraduate study and for advanced reading by teachers and researchers within the dental field. MARK W. J. FERGUSON
Basic Techniques for Transmission Electron Microscopy. By M. A. HAYAT. (Pp. xxiii+411; many illustrations; $70.50 hardback; $35.50 paperback.) London: Academic Press. 1986. This is a fine book by a well-known electron microscopist. It concentrates on practical methods rather than theory and gives a comprehensive treatment to all aspects of routine processing from fixation to section staining. All this is followed by a valuable long chapter dealing with specific processing methods for anything from cream cheese to lobsters! Much of the book is a compilation of techniques scattered throughout the research literature. Such an enormous undertaking by the author should save the hard-pressed microscopist a considerable amount of time in the library. Each of the six chapters devoted to general preparation methods has a short introduction explaining the theory of a processing stage. Then follows a mixture of recipes and methods. The hazards of reagents used for electron microscopy are briefly described, there is a fault-finding chart for problems in section cutting, a useful account of methods for staining semithin sections and a comprehensive bibliography. This is a truly excellent working manual that is hard to fault. It should improve the quality of specimen preservation and deserves a place in the laboratory of any electron microscopist in biology or medicine. M. BENJAMIN
Nomina Anatomica. Revised by the International Anatomical Nomenclature Committee, 6th edition. (Pp. xvii + 200; £30.) Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. 1989. This sixth edition of the Nomina Anatomica includes the third editions of both the Nomina Histologica and the Nomina Embryologica and begins with an English translation of the main subject headings. The most noteworthy feature of the new edition is that, unlike its predecessors, it is bound in hardback. I take this to mean that it is intended to last longer than previous editions so that one of the major obstacles to the widespread adoption of a standard terminology will have been overcome. The original Paris Nomenclature, published in 1955, was a landmark and its recommendations were immediately taken up by all anatomists. However, in spite of a spirited defence by O'Rahilly (Acta anat. 134, 291, 1989) I believe that the majority of anatomists today feel that the appearance of numerous editions, in each of which many terms have been changed (sometimes more than once), has militated against the proper use of the N.A. (see Staubesand & Steel, Acta anat. 133, 265, 1988). It takes a minimum of 10 years for anatomists to assimilate a new name for a structure and at least 50 years for surgeons. Butterworth's Medical Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1978 still describes Lambrinudi's operation as a subastragalar arthrodesis and it will probably be even longer before physiologists are heard talking about the concentrating process in the ansa nephrica. If the present volume does, indeed, represent a stabilisation of terminology than it should be bought and used conscientiously by all who use anatomical terminology. D. B. MOFFAT
