Peroximones: A Personal Account Book

Peroxisomes, cell organelles performing the metabolism of peroxide, constitute since 1983 a major research front in cell biology and medical genetics. At least 13 distinct inborn metabolic human diseases are recognized to-day as due to a peroxisomal defect. The author of this monograph has been involved since 1968 in basic research on peroxisomes. He narrates his personal experiences, and attempts to make a synthesis of the overwhelming number of scientific data available in 1991. He engages in a discussion on controversial issues such as the biogenesis of peroxisomes, and the so-called peroxisomal reticulum. The book also contains novel information and unpublished electron micrographs. Some of the subjects treated are: microscopy of peroxisomes in several fetal and adult human tissues; generation and breakdown of superoxide anions and hydrogen peroxide as observed in the living animal; cytoplasmic localisation of peroxisomal enzymes, and the intriguing finding that defective peroxisomes are often enlarged. Although strictly scientific, the book reads as an exciting story. The list of references contains more than 400 items.