neurobiologists on the cellular and supracellular level. 



Most of the 31 contributions are medium-length reviews or progress reports 

 from specific institutes in North America and Europe. Many of the reviews 

 have extensive reference lists. The volume is profusely and beautifully il- 

 lustrated. 



70. 



G.C.ROSENQUIST and D.BERGSMA, eds. 1978. MORPHOGENESIS AND MALFORMATION OF 



THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM 



Liss, New York. Birth Defects: Original Article Series vol.14, no. 7. 



XX, 460 pp., 313 figs., 24 tabs., subject index. $ 46.00 



available in Europe and the Middle East from European Book Service, Weesp, 



Netherlands 



This symposium took place in the U.S.A. in November 1977. Of the 33 con- 

 tributors 18 were North Americans and 15 came from Eastern and Western 

 Europe and Japan. Anyone working on heart development will find much of 

 value in the volume. Most contributions are medium-length, liberally illus- 

 trated reports of mostly recent original research, carried out with a variety 

 of techniques and experimental procedures on mammals, birds and amphibians. 



The first six papers are predominantly or entirely descriptive in nature 

 and concern intracardiac structures. The next five papers discuss cellular 

 and molecular mechanisms of early heart morphogenesis. A group of six papers 

 then deal with various genetically determined heart malformations. The last 

 five papers discuss effects of modifying the embryonic circulation on heart 

 development in the chick. After each group of papers the discussions are 

 briefly summarised. 



The book is well produced and has a host of excellent line drawings, half- 

 tones and photographs, among them a large number of scanning electron micro- 

 graphs. 



71. 



G.S. STENT, ed. 1977. FUNCTION AND FORMATION OF NEURAL SYSTEMS 



Dahlem Konferenzen, Berlin. Life Sciences Research Report 6. 365 pp., 



7 figs., 1 tab., subject index, index to contributors. DM 57.00, $ 23.50, 



E 13.80 (paper) 



Although this conference report appeared more than two years ago we brief- 

 ly announce it for those who may have missed it. It is perhaps of greater 

 significance for neurobiologists than for developmental biologists, which is 

 why we highlight only certain parts. 



Two of the nine background reviews with which the book begins deal with ab- 

 normal neural development. That on mammals (by Drager, 28 pp.) focusses on 

 postnatal development and discusses eight mutations affecting neural morpho- 

 genesis, as well as visual deprivation experiments. That on invertebrates 

 (by Palka, 21 pp.) lists a series of "accidental", genetic or experimentally 

 produced abnormalities in a broad range of species and is concluded by a set 

 of generalisations from these data. The group report on abnormal neural de- 

 velopment covers 24 pages and has its own references (participants: Bentley, 

 Drager, Guillery, Lawrence, Murphey, Palka, Rakic, Ready, Sherman) . Some of 

 its subsections are The genetic approach. The study of cell lineage, and 

 Some effects of altered neural activity. 



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