Abstract
Neuroimmunomodulation is an eye-catching and fascinating title. This book is a volume of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences and represents the compilation of 29 articles presented at the Seventh Congress of the International Society of Neuroimmunomodulation, held April 14–27, 2008, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
If I had to describe this book in one sentence, it would be about recent understandings in the field of neuroendocrine–immune regulatory interactions in disease and health, and it would advance this understanding toward the development of therapeutics. The authority of this book is established by the fact that all three authors have extensive experience in the field of neuroimmunology. The primary author, Dr Wilson Savino, has 30 years of experience with thymus development, physiology, and pathology; the other authors are similarly experienced.
All chapters are united by a common theme of neuroimmunomodulation revolving around molecular cross talk between neuroendocrine and immune systems in health and disease. The book starts with an award-winning lecture on effects of growth hormone on the migration of developing T cells. The contents are divided into four parts. Part 1, “Molecular Basis of Connecting Pathways in Neuroimmunomodulation,” contains five chapters on intracellular mechanisms of glucocorticoid-induced suppression of inflammation, the roles of Eph and ephrins in the biology of thymus, the roles of neuropilins and leptin in thymus physiology, and the physiological and pathological interactions of nitric oxide between neuroendocrine and immune systems. Part 2, “Cytokines/Chemokines Regulating Nervous/Endocrine Tissues,” covers topics related to various cytokines and chemokines and their roles in normal neuroimmunophysiology and pathology. Part 3, “Behavioral Effects on Neuroimmunomodulation,” contains three chapters on the role of the brain and immune system in modulating behavior, the roles and immunology of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis in mouse models, and the effects of mitochondria on behavior. These chapters serve as a conceptual framework for understanding the biologic basis of behavior. Part 4, “Stress, Inflammation, and Disease,” has multiple chapters, the titles of which are appropriate and provide insight into their contents. The chapters are short and complete; they highlight only the recent pertinent findings and results; and they are often substantiated by graphs.
The book is written in an easy-to-comprehend style; the chapters are concise and are effectively divided into clear headings and subheadings that convey brief summarized messages. Because the chapters are brief, with no unnecessary information, they make reading fun. The legends are complete, with all abbreviations explained. Furthermore, the legends succinctly describe the diagrams on intracellular signaling, which illustrate multiple sequential physiologic and pathologic integrative and regulatory events. Moreover, these diagrams are self-explanatory and are easy to understand.
The intended readers are researchers looking for well-summarized information. This book does well in capturing the reader's attention, and it provides pertinent information without digressing. Adequate references are available for those who are interested in details of the experiments.
However, the book focuses heavily on molecular aspects of normal physiology and immunology of neuroendocrine organs and includes few degenerative and infectious diseases of the brain. Some of the abstracts do not summarize the findings but rather provide the list of topics discussed within the chapters. There are few figures depicting histopathology, and these images are in black and white.