Abstract
This book’s goal is to provide a “bench-side companion for researchers and practitioners looking for an accessible and well-illustrated guide to mouse pathology.” Indeed, the text meets that goal with a few minor detractions. I have edited and contributed to a reference atlas on comparative anatomy and histology and know very well how challenging it is to publish a useful textbook for researchers and especially comparative pathologists. We are a picky profession, and invariably someone will find fault with any published work. Although one may consider our texts in competition, and my review a potential conflict of interest, readers will realize that each textbook has its own unique material, and these 2 books in fact complement each other.
The unique attributes of A Practical Guide to the Histology of the Mouse are the availability of downloadable PowerPoint slides of the figures and tables (an excellent resource for teaching) and Chapter 2, “Practical Approaches to Reviewing and Recoding Pathology Data.” This very useful chapter contains sections on sample selection and trimming, controls, terminologies, and quantification techniques, to name a few of the most helpful topics. Overall, the text contains 13 chapters, most of which cover specific organs systems, for example, gastrointestinal system, integument and adipose tissues, special senses, and so on. The 4 contributors hail from Australia and the United Kingdom, with Dr Scudamore authoring 7 of the chapters. The first 2 chapters include a review of the necropsy of the mouse and the excellent practical approaches mentioned above, followed by the 11 organ system chapters.
The organ system chapters all follow a similar organization, beginning with brief sections on background and development, followed by anatomy and histology, which often includes sampling techniques, artifacts, and examples of background strain–specific lesions and prevalent spontaneous lesions for some organs and tissues. The “Lymphoid and Haematopoietic System” chapter is exemplary for its superb photos of typical artifacts and lesions. The addition of select common background strain lesions is a practical feature that is most useful for people unfamiliar with the mouse as a research model. These highlighted strain differences offers a glimpse into the complexities of mouse models and variability in “normal” pathology found in various mouse backgrounds. As noted by Dr Cory Brayton, who authored the Foreword for the text, the “insights on common artifacts and misinterpretations” throughout the text will be of great value to all readers. Clearly, the full spectrum of spontaneous pathology of the mouse neither can nor should be covered in a space-limited practical histology guide. As such, Dr Scudamore notes in her preface that additional texts and resources can fill in the omissions, and each chapter is well referenced; the nervous system chapter also includes useful online resources.
The attractive hardcover text is 232 pages, 9 by 10 inches, in full color with high-quality paper and over 300 figures. Most of the figures are large enough for interpretation and of good to excellent quality. I based my review on the hard copy text as the e-book suffers from platform issues. When viewing the e-book (on several platforms), the figure captions are not on the same e-page as their corresponding figure. Sometimes the figure captions are placed on a page with an unrelated image, which may be very confusing to the novice. This misalignment occurs on several popular e-reader platforms and devices, including the publisher-recommended Bookshout app (iPad) and web-based reader. I was told the issue is not one Wiley (or other publishers presumably) can control as it is a “function of particular e-reader devices” and “hardware limitations.” As such, I do not recommend the e-book until this incompatibility issue is resolved.
The few negative attributes of this book are typical first edition hiccups that all comprehensive texts experience and do not sufficiently detract from this otherwise very useful text. Although most of the figures are of good to excellent quality and adequately illustrate the text, there is some variability in quality across chapters. Some images are low resolution, too dark, or too small; a few lack arrows or other guides that would be helpful for less experienced readers; occasionally abbreviations are explained in the legend; and rare cells are misidentified (in what is clearly a typesetting oversight). The index also contains a few errors, but the book is well organized and short enough that readers can easily find what they are looking for based on the structural organization alone.
In summary, this text meets its goal to be a “bench-side companion” for the research laboratory. In addition, pathologists, residents, and trainees will find the text practical and an easy-to-use reference as they become familiar with mouse histology; educators will appreciate the PowerPoint slides of the figures and tables. The hardcover earns a recommendation as a practical addition to a reference library through the text’s succinct coverage of a complex topic to illustrate the basic histopathology of the mouse.