Perhaps a more descriptive title, even if less dignified, would be "Insulin: Its Comings, Goings And Doings," for this little book discusses a good deal more than membranes and metabolism. At any rate, its message comes through clearly with remarkable economy in about 150 pages tucked between attractive covers whose orange hue, by design or accident, manages somehow to approximate that of the four-plus "clinitest" reaction for glucose.
There are three major sections: Part 1, "Insulin Metabolism," discusses synthesis and secretion of the hormone, its inhibition and degradation, its state in the blood, and its measurement by various methods of immuno- and bioassay. Part 2 deals with insulin effects on carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism. Part 3 is devoted to fundamental but controversial matters such as the relation of insulin structure to its biological activity, the attachment of the molecule to the cell wall, and theories of insulin action.
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