NITRIC OXIDE AND FREE RADICALS IN PERIPHERAL NEUROTRANMISSION

Abstract

NITRIC OXIDE AND FREE RADICALS IN PERIPHERAL NEUROTRANSMISSION. By Stanley Kalsner.2000. Basel: Birkhauser Verlag AG. Price $89.95. Pp. 357. ISBN 3‐81764‐0070‐3. This book represents the 2nd volume in a series entitled Nitric Oxide in Biology and Medicine . My initial reaction when considering this book was: not another book on nitric oxide (NO)! However, this feeling soon disappeared when I started to read the book. A major benefit of this book is that each of the 15 chapters are almost stand‐alone reviews written by the appropriate experts in the field. Furthermore, there is little overlap and each chapter is self‐contained, i.e. a (comprehensive) reference list is included at the end of the chapter. In addition, in the majority of the chapters, actual experimental data is shown in order to support the various concepts and hypotheses being discussed. The first chapter of the volume considers the origin and evolution of nitric oxide signalling. A wealth of intriguing information is covered, e.g. NO formation in invertebrates and plant tissues. Leonid Moriz has also been very thorough in searching the literature, and references from 1965 and 1973 have been uncovered that consider NO formation by mitochondria, a subject that is very much in vogue today! Whilst some of the titles of the various chapters my not initially appeal to all, e.g. Chapter 2: ‘the nitrergic transmitter of the anococcygeus’, I found that in many cases a dip into such a chapter was worth it. Often, as in the case of Chapter 2, information can be found that may be relevant to all fields of NO biology and medicine. Of particular interest (to me …