Methods in Skin Research. Edited by D. Skerrow and C. J. Sken:ow. J o hn Wiley & Sons, N ew Yo rk , 1985 (673 pp, S97.95) Me ch ods in S kin Research edited by Skcrrow and Skt: rrow is a rnu ltiaud'! o red tex t in which ex perts in several fields luvc reviewed the literature on experimental dermatology and have presented in a si ng le vo lume a current summ ati on of cxperimmtal methods relevant to sk in resea rch. T his book is ve ry well done and prese nts an up-to-date discussion of

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... es in a variety of impo rtallt areas. Partic u!Jrl y good chapters are written by Eli as, Ma gnus, an d Duell. and include areas such as ci rcul atin g immune co mple xes, culti vatio n of normal hum a n epidermal keratinocy tes and melan ocy tes, chemica l carcinogenesis of the skin, epid erm al lipid research, sk in permeability. and the stud y o finAammato ry m ed iato rs. A useful approac h in m ost of the chapters was to in clude spccifr c des criptions of procedures from the current literature, a feature that is especia ll y helpful fo r so m e o f the ph ys ical m oda litics such as biopsy, preparation of si ng le cell suspensio ns. preparation of materia ls for melanocyte culture, as well as lipid studies . T hi s approa ch g i vcs bo th new and es tablished in vestigato rs a co mm o n point of reference in the literature up to about '1982. Since the pu blication date fo r this book is 1985 m os t of the n:fcrm ccs arc prior to 1982 . Th is book will be of sig nifi ca nt usc to yo un g in vestigato rs, as well as both medi ca l and sciemifi c postdocto ral fellows , w ho arc beginning r-e sea rch invo lvin g the skin . Any laboratory involved in denna t o logic resea rch would be well advised to have a copy of this book as a standard rcfcrm cc text w hi ch wo uld provide a bas ic co rn m o n g ro und for the investigato rs within th at labo rator y. One could also usc so me o f the readi ngs as ove rvie ws of the physiologic progress as a teaching aid in courses teac hin g th e physio logy of the sk in. In SUITin1ary, this book represents a sig nifi cant contributio n to our field, a nd fills a need to r in ves ti ga tive dermatologists as well as oth ers interested in the use o f the ep iderm al cell as a m odel.