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.

Growth, Nutrition, and Metabolism of Cells in Culture, Volume 2, 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 deals with specialized mammalian, plant, and invertebrate cell systems and techniques. The book begins by tracing the history of the development of tissue culture. This is followed by separate chapters on the use of perfusion systems in cell and tissue culture; and the cultivation of muscle tissue, nerve tissue, and hematopoietic cells. Subsequent chapters discuss the use of cell culture to study mechanisms of hormone action; the cultivation of mammalian embryos; cultivation of cells from poikilothermie vertebrates; and the cultivation of arthropod cells and plant cells. This book will be valuable resource for investigators who routinely use cell culture techniques, as well as students and individuals in associated areas of cell and molecular biology.

The critically acclaimed laboratory standard, Methods in Enzymology, is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike. The series contains much material still relevant today - truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences.

“Infogest” (Improving Health Properties of Food by Sharing our Knowledge on the Digestive Process) is an EU COST action/network in the domain of Food and Agriculture that will last for 4 years from April 4, 2011. Infogest aims at building an open international network of institutes undertaking multidisciplinary basic research on food digestion gathering scientists from different origins (food scientists, gut physiologists, nutritionists...). The network gathers 70 partners from academia, corresponding to a total of 29 countries. The three main scientific goals are: Identify the beneficial food components released in the gut during digestion; Support the effect of beneficial food components on human health; Promote harmonization of currently used digestion models Infogest meetings highlighted the need for a publication that would provide researchers with an insight into the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of respective in vitro and ex vivo assays to evaluate the effects of foods and food bioactives on health. Such assays are particularly important in situations where a large number of foods/bioactives need to be screened rapidly and in a cost effective manner in order to ultimately identify lead foods/bioactives that can be the subject of in vivo assays. The book is an asset to researchers wishing to study the health benefits of their foods and food bioactives of interest and highlights which in vitro/ex vivo assays are of greatest relevance to their goals, what sort of outputs/data can be generated and, as noted above, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the various assays. It is also an important resource for undergraduate students in the ‘food and health’ arena.