Book Reviews
The Pentose Phosphate Pathway
intact cells and tissues, (vi) overall control of the pathway,
(vii) clinical and nutritional aspects, and (viii) glutathione
metabolism and pentose phosphate pathway. Finally, a
welcome addition to the review is a separate chapter by B.
Landau on the use of radioisotopes in elucidating the nature
of and quantification of the pentose pathway. The systematic
classification of the subject matter has inevitably resulted in
repetition of some of the published work, but to a reader
seeking specific information this is a blessing.
One drawback of the book is the complete omission of the
two oxidative enzymes glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase in the chapter on
preparation, properties and analysis of the enzymes of the
pathway. A schematic representation of the distribution of
carbon atoms of glucose via the L-type reaction mechanism,
comparable with that via the F-type reaction mechanism,
would have been appropriate and helpful to the reader. In
the introduction to methods of expressing activities of
enzymes (p. 9 9 , there is no definition of an international
unit of the enzyme activity. That thiamin deficiency caused
transketolase levels to fall in all tissues except brain (pp. 97
and 146) is not correct (p. 105). Of the thiamine pyrophosphate-dependent enzymes, transketolase has consistently
been shown to decrease in the brain of thiamin-deficient
rats. The reader would have liked to be enlightened on the
distribution of the activities of the enzymes of the pathway
in subcellular preparations.
The reviewer has not found many typographical errors
except ‘affect’ for ‘effect’ on p. 147, line 1, and ‘altrooctulose’ for ‘ido-octulose’ on p. 105, line 5. The book
provides a good subject index, and should prove an exceknt
and indispensable source of the present state of knowledge
on the pentose phosphate pathway to research workers in
the field, biochemists and clinicians.
TERRY WOOD
Academic Press, London, 1985, pp. 204, €26.50
Glucose is metabolized in animals mainly via the EmbdenMeyerhof pathway, also known as the ‘glycolytic’ pathway.
Its metabolism by the direct oxidative decarboxylation of
carbon-I via an alternative pathway, generally referred to as
the ‘hexose monophosphate shunt’ or the ‘pentose phosphate
pathway’, is relatively small. The shunt pathway generates
NADPH and ribose 5-phosphate, both of importance in
cellular reactions. I t is a complex pathway, requiring several
enzymes which give rise to a series of sugar phosphates of
different carbon chains. Added to this compexity is the
recent proposal that the pathway proceeds via two types of
reaction mechanism, namely the well-established classical
reaction mechanism leading to the formation of a sevencarbon sugar phosphate, as shown in fat-cells (F-type), and
the other giving an eight-carbon sugar phosphate as well as
the seven-carbon sugar phosphate, reported to be characteristic for liver cells (L-type). In the light of recent developments, appraisal and interest in the pentose phosphate pathway, the author is to be congratulated for undertaking and
providing a review of the current state of knowledge of the
subject in a systematic and coherent manner.
A complete review of the literature on the pentose phosphate pathway is a daunting task. Considering the time
factor defined by the sabbatical leave during which most of
this work was written, the author has chosen well to limit the
survey of the scientific literature on the subject published
since 1960. The information gathered as a result of this
survey has been collated in ten chapters under headings, e.g.
(i) formulation of the pathway, (ii) preparation, properties
and analysis of intermediates/enzymes of the pathway, (iii)
intermediates in intact cells and tissues, (iv) distribution of
the enzymes among different tissues and different species, (v)
operation and regulation in broken-cell preparations/in
M. K. GAITONDE
Ion-Exchange Sorption and Preparative Chromatography of Biologically Active Molecules
G. V. SAMSONOV (Translated from Russian by
R. N. HAINSWORTH)
Consultants Bureau, N e w York and London, 1986, pp. 163,
$45.00
This book, comprising five chapters, deals with the physicochemical and theoretical bases of ion-exchange sorption and
chromatography. A brief introductory chapter outlining the
problems of and methods for the separation of complex
biological mixtures is followed by a discussion on the synthesis, structures and properties of various types of ion
exchangers. Chapter 3 is the largest chapter and describes
ion-exchange equilibrium, thermodynamics and sorption
selectivity of organic and physiologically active compounds
with examples of separation which include antibiotics,
amino acids, proteins, nucleotides, nucleosides, alkaloids
and sulphonamide drugs. These compounds, particularly
the small molecules, are usually much better resolved by
Vol. 15
modern h.p.1.c. However, the author’s emphasis is on largescale separation, isolation and purification, in which he
demonstrates, with reference to selected substances, that
ion-exchange sorption and desorption processes may be
superior to other separation techniques. Chapters 4 and 5
are devoted to equilibrium dynamics of ion sorption and the
kinetics and dynamics of non-equilibrium ion-exchange
systems respectively. Much of the theoretical concepts in
these and other chapters are derived from the Russian scientific literature. Should it be necessary to refer to these
publications, a knowledge of Russian is essential. Readers
would also benefit by prior familiarity with some of the
terminologies used. For example, ’ionite’ means an ionexchange material, be it inorganic-based, resins based on
cross-linked vinyl monomers or polycondensation matrices
or even linear polyelectrolytes used for the network system.
‘Anionites’ and ‘cationites’ are thus anion and cation
exchangers respectively, and a cation exchanger carrying a
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