Lysosomes

I have followed the lysosome field since it was proposed as a concept by deDuve and his co-workers in 1955 and find this collection of papers by workers in that field an interesting addition that has many sparkling con-addition, of course, to deDuve, to name a few) but it also has several several shortcomings. For the uninitiated (and there are surprisingly many for whom "lysosome" is a new word aild unknown concept), I suppose it is a good book that joins many points of view, biochemical, histochemical, cytological, biological, developmental and pathological. For the initiated, the discussions from the floor printed at the conclusion of each chapter and a general discussion at the end of the book hold some excitement. The reader should be warned, however, that this is a popular and fast moving field in which additions and changes occur rapidly. For example, Novikoff, who wrote an intriguing chapter in this book, proposed an elaborate nomenclature for various cytological "bodies" that show acid hydrolase activities and are contained within the cytoplasm of a variety of cells. At a recent lysosome meeting in the spring of 1964, he retracted the nomenclature as somewhat inaccurate and confusing. My objections to the book are general and against the present trend of collected volumes which rehash original research for the nth time. The contributions of deDuve and his co-workers on lysosomes, were most significant ones, but I wonder how many times he wrote this (or a similar) chapter. I wonder whether all collected reviews on lysosomes by all the present authors, who are vigorous and talented workers, would not break a camel's back. Two previous symposia on this subject have been published, Water and Electrolyte Metabolism and The Clinical Chemistry of Monoamines. The present symposium is divided into four sections which include sodium transport and excretion, hypokalemia in children, calcium and phosphorus metabolism, and the treatment of renal failure. About half the book is concerned with sodium transport and excretion, which was also the topic of the first symposium. The second part illustrates in three papers what may be a single disease entity of hypokalemia in young children. Calcium and phosphorus metabolism is studied in terms of the metabolism of these ions in chronic renal failure, and the renal phosphate threshold. The last section contains five reports concerning the treatment of renal failure with diet and anabolic steroids, and long term dialysis. The …