Mammalian Development: A Practical Approach (1988)

(ed) Practical Approach Series, 335 pp. Oxford: IRL Press LtdScience is similar to those other imperatives of life; eating, drinking, sex and politics. Although talk, rumour and gossip are rife the essential thrill comes from doing it. The life of the professional scientific voyeur must be a frustrating one, for when the talking ends and the pub closes there will always be more experiments to do. For those who do them, IRL Press have produced over the years the Practical Approach series, through which practitioners of science communicate the bare bones of methodology, only lightly sauced with data and speculation.This volume of the series, edited by Marilyn Monk, is a timely addition. Whilst the study of Drosophila and C. elegans accelerates towards a complete morphological and molecular description of development, knowledge of even the most studied of mammalian species (by which we primarily mean mouse) is much inferior. However, human nature dictates that it is mammalian development (by which we primarily mean human) that society and funding bodies are interested in.The reason for the slower progression of research into mammalian embryogenesis include the hidden, uterine, mode of development, the very small (in size and number) amounts of material generally available, the difficulties of manipulating the implanted embryo and the paucity of mutations affecting development. Almost all the chapters in this book address these problems. Here you can read about handling preimplantation and postimplantation embryos (Hester Pratt and Rosa Beddington, respectively), lineage analysis by various cell marking techniques (Bruce Ponder), analysing chromosomes from germ cells, embryos and fetuses (Ann Chandley and Ted Evans), microanalysis of enzymes and total proteins (Marilyn Monk and Sarah Howlett), analysis of gene expression by m situ hybridization (Rebecca Haffner and Keith Willison) and by constructing cDNA libraries from preimplantation stages (Christine Watson and Josie McConnell). Two chapters from Azim Surani’s group deal with production of transgenic mice and with nuclear transplantation in eggs. Two chapters deal with what we might cell ‘service’ aspects of the research; mouse husbandry (Colin Hetherington) and cryostorage of oocytes and embryos (Maureen Wood, David Whittingham and William Rail). Finally, there is a chapter by Peter Braude on in vitro fertilization and culture of human embryos. Only five of the fourteen chapters mention nucleic acids even in passing, yet the book is firmly (as Anne McLaren puts it) in the postcloning era. There is the strong sense that the unimaginably complex processes driving the egg to the adult can be solved by some synthesis of the methods given here, a sense which in part derives from optimism engendered by the continuing successes of molecular approaches in answering questions thought unapproachable only a few years ago.It has to be said, though, that a volume like this cannot stand alone. An embryologist would not be able to make cDNA libraries nor a DNA technologist do lineage analysis using solely this book. It first needs to sit among other methods books; for example, the volumes edited by Liz Robertson and David Glover in this series, and the Cold Spring Harbor manuals, ‘Molecular Cloning’ and ‘Manipulating the Mouse Embryo’. Second, as in the realms of the senses, there is no substitute for hands-on experience. One would be ill-advised to set up an IVF programme on the basis of Chapter 14 of this book, to set up a mouse house on the basis of Chapter 1 or a cryopreservation programme using Chapter 13. Hopefully what is intended in all the chapters is to give a feeling for the possibilities in the field and to encourage the optimists among us to get involved with mammals.It would have been good to have seen some reference to embryonal stem (ES or EK) cells, the use of which most in the field would regard as a crucial and exciting requirement. As this volume costs only £18 ($34), most libraries or laboratories will have money left for what ought to be the companion volume, in the same series, “Teratocarcinomas and Embryonic Stem Cells” edited by Elizabeth Robertson. Together they define a field bursting with questions and abounding with optimism. Like the embryo itself we can feel the muscle in the bud.