Growth, Nutrition, and Metabolism of Cells in Culture, Volume 1, summarizes the state of knowledge of the growth, nutrition, and metabolism of various types of cell cultures. The chapters are both detailed and comprehensive enough for the specialist and broad enough to provide a general background for the nonspecialist. The present volume discusses the uptake, synthesis, and degradation of biologically important compounds, particularly the major components usually present in tissue culture medium. The book begins by tracing the history of the development of tissue culture. This is followed by separate chapters on early development of cell culture nutrition; the biological effects of serum; the energy metabolism of malignant cells; the gaseous environment of the mammalian cell in culture; and the uptake and utilization of amino acids by cells in culture. Subsequent chapters cover purine and pyrimidine metabolism; lipids in cell culture; the use of cell cultures for sterol metabolism studies; the genetic expressions of human diploid fibroblast cell cultures; and structural features of mammalian complex carbohydrates.

The Structure and Function of Muscle V1

Cartilage, Volume 1: Structure, Function, and Biochemistry provides an in-depth treatment of cartilage structure, function, and biochemistry. Topics range from vertebrate and invertebrate cartilages to chondroblasts and chondrocytes, along with the use of transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to examine cartilage. The collagens and cell kinetics of cartilage are also discussed. Comprised of 12 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the diversity of cartilage in vertebrates and invertebrates in terms of structure, function, and evolution. The principal common attributes of vertebrate cartilages as well as those specific parameters that usefully serve to distinguish between cartilaginous tissues at several phylogenetic levels are discussed. Function and level of function are considered, along with their correlations with the structural attributes of a specific cartilage. Subsequent chapters explore the chondroblasts and chondrocytes of cartilage, particularly how they arise and how they are maintained; the ultrastructure of cartilage; the biochemistry of cartilaginous extracellular matrices; and the kinetic and metabolic properties of cartilage cells. The final chapter analyzes the mechanisms of calcification of cartilage. This book will be of interest to biologists and biochemists.

Microbial Ecology of Foods, Volume I: Factors Affecting Life and Death of Microorganisms presents valuable background information on the theoretical aspects of food microbiology. It is divided into 14 chapters that focus on the environmental factors affecting food microorganisms. These factors are temperature, irradiation, water activity, pH, acidity, organic acids, curing salts, antibiotics, gases, packaging, and cleaning systems. Each chapter explores the scientific principles of the specific environmental factor; methods of measurement; and effects on growth and viability of spoilage organisms and pathogens. The chapters also look into the control measures and interrelationships with the other factors. Some of the chapters deal with the effects of cell injury on survival and recovery of microorganisms in food and the metabolic aspects of mixed microbial populations. In each chapter, the reader has been directed to appropriate key publications for further study. This volume is particularly suitable as an undergraduate or postgraduate textbook for students who have had at least one course in general microbiology.

Plant Pathology: An Advanced Treatise, Volume I: The Diseased Plant presents an integrated synthesis of the scope, importance, and history of plant pathology, emphasizing the concept of disease, not of diseases. The book focuses on pathological processes, defense devices, predisposition, and therapy of the diseased plant. It explores the normal pathways that are obstructed in sick plants; how the pathogen causes dysfunction; and how the host plant reacts to the pathogen. This book also considers the logistics and the strategy of disease and how to combat it. This volume is organized into 15 chapters and begins with an overview of plant pathology, its history, and its relation to other sciences, along with plant predisposition to disease, and the resistance-susceptibility problem. The next chapters examine how sickness in plants is recognized and diagnosed, the tissue breakdown in diseases, and the effects of parasites on the processes in plants. The impact of disease on water balance and respiration in plants and the histology of disease resistance in plants are also explained. This volume also covers the physiological and chemical basis of defense by higher plants against potential or invading pathogens and the hypersensitivity concept in plant pathology. The final chapter discusses the physical and chemical therapy of the diseased plant. This book will appeal to all who are interested in a theoretical treatment of plant pathology and in the broad ecological relationships among organisms, as well as to research workers and advanced students of applied biology.

Arachidonic acid metabolites are known to playa regulatory role in a number of biological systems, in which they function as microenviron mental hormones and intracellular signal mediators. One of the most exciting areas of research of these compounds is the one that studies the relationship between prostaglandins and tumor cell growth and function. In the last few years there has been an extraordinary evolution of data on prostaglandins (and related compounds) and cancer. This vol ume is based on papers presented at the 1986 International Confer ence on Prostaglandins and Cancer organized by the Italian National Research Council and the II University of Rome, and held in Rome, Italy, in June, 1986. This Conference brought together oncologists and specialists in the areas of prostaglandin chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, physiology, cellular and molecular biology to overview the actual state of knowledge on the role of eicosanoids in cancer and to focus on the key questions that need to be answered. The picture that comes out of this book describes a very complicated network of interactions between arachidonic acid metabolites and different as pects of the complex phenomenon "cancer". Eicosanoids participate in carcinogenesis initiation and promotion, and their relationship with tumor promoters and growth factors is well established. During cancer growth, different prostaglandins can have different roles in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation and in metastasis formation; meanwhile evidence is accumulating for a pos sible use of some of these compounds as antineoplastic agents.