Surface Characterization of Biomaterials, (Progress in Biomedical Engineering, 6), B. D. Ratner, Editor, Elsevier Science Publishers, 1988
✍ Scribed by Baier, R. E.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1989
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 221 KB
- Volume
- 23
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0021-9304
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Reviewed by R. E. Baier
Health-Care Instruments and Devices Institute
A pioneer in studies of living cells in contact with synthetic materials, Paul Weiss of Rockefeller Institute once said that "a cell's spreading on the surface of a synthetic substratum is but a vain attempt of the cell to phagocytize that material." Surface scientists, at least since the days of Thomas Young (circa 1800), might counter with the suggestion that phagocytosisitself-must be dictated by the laws of chemistry and physics, manifested in events of wetting, spreading, and adhesion that do not require "life processes" for their occurrence.
The slim, but weighty, red-covered book, Surface Characterization of Biornaterials begins with a preface by Editor Buddy Ratner giving more of these di- chotomies, almost worth the price of admission (US$121/Dfl.230) by itself. This volume in the fledgling Progress in Biomedical Engineering series, from Elsevier, is the only one now available that specifically addresses the surface characterization of biomaterials. It stems from a June, 1987 symposium and should succeed in its goal of catalyzing needed further interactions between surface scientists and biologists. This book should be bought and read, although the occasionally abrupt transitions of typeface (apparently from the authors' provision of camera-ready copy) detract from the "comfortlevel" of the careful critic.
Section I-''Perspectives''-provides an excellent short review of the convincing surface analyses from Chalmers University of Technology,