Cellular Aspects Of Smooth Muscle Function

Smooth muscles line many internal organs and, in general, are involved in moving fluids and slurry around the body. They are controlled by the action of hormones, by nervous stimulation, and can be influenced by drugs. This 1997 book provides a review of our understanding of smooth muscle and integrates molecular, cellular and physiological information with tissue and anatomical studies. Well-known researchers have written chapters giving detailed reviews of our current knowledge of the biochemistry, pharmacology, physiology and anatomy of smooth muscle. In particular, they cover the seven most important areas of smooth muscle function including morphology, electrophysiology, mechanisms of electromechanical and pharmacomechanical coupling, calcium homeostasis, signal transduction, mechanics of contraction, and the contractile proteins. All those interested in muscular contraction will find this book worthwhile, whether they are biochemists, physiologists, or cell biologists.

Advances in Physiological Sciences, Volume 5: Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Muscle Function covers the proceedings of the 28th International Congress of Physiological Sciences, held in Budapest in 1980 (including the proceedings of the satellite symposium on Membrane Control of Skeletal Muscle Function). The book focuses on the molecular and cellular facets of skeletal muscle function. The selection first offers information on the mechanical properties of cross-bridges and their relation to muscle contraction; molecular basis of functional specialization in muscle as induced by innervation; and electrical properties of crustacean muscle membranes. The text then ponders on contractile protein isoforms in developing muscle; effect of age and exercise on minced gastrocnemius muscle regeneration; and contractile proteins of rat gastrocnemius during its regeneration after mincing. The publication examines the behavior of myosin projections in frog striated muscle during isometric contraction; energetics of contracting muscle and its relation to crossbridge mechanisms; and time course of chemical change and energy production during contraction of frog skeletal muscle. The physiological analysis of human myopathy and adaptation in normal and diseased muscle are also discussed. The selection is a vital source of data for readers interested in the cellular and molecular aspects of muscle function.

This volume intends to provide a comprehensive overview on the mecha nisms of muscle contraction and non-muscle cell motility at the molecu lar and cellular level, not only for investigators in these fields but also for general readers interested in these topics. A most attractive feature of various living organisms in the animal and plant kingdoms is their ability to move. In spite of a great diversity in the structure and function of various motile systems, it has frequently been assumed since the nineteenth century that all kinds of "motility" are essentially the same. Based on this assumption, some investigators in the nineteenth century thought that the mechanisms of motility could better be studied on primitive non-muscle motile systems such as amoeboid movement, rath er than on highly specialized muscle cells. Contrary to their expectation, however, the basic mechanisms of motility have been revealed solely by investigations on vertebrate skeletal muscles, since a monumental discovery of Szent-Gyorgyi and his coworkers in the early 1940s that muscle contraction results from the interaction between two different contractile proteins, actin and myosin, coupled with ATP hydrolysis.

This volume presents the proceedings of a muscle symposium, which was supported by the grant from the Fujihara Foundation of Science to be held as the Fourth Fujihara Seminar on October 28 -November 1, 2002, at Hakone, Japan. The Fujihara Seminar covers all fields of natural science, while only one proposal is granted every year. It is therefore a great honor for me to be able to organize this meeting. Before this symposium, I have organized muscle symposia five times, and published the proceedings: " Cross-bridge Mechanism in Muscle Contraction (University of Tokyo Press, 1978), "Contractile Mechanisms in Muscle" (plenum, 1984); "Molecular Mechanisms of Muscle Contraction" (plenum, 1988); "Mechanism of MyofIlament Sliding in Muscle contraction" (plenum, 1993); "Mechanisms of Work Production and Work Absorption in Muscle" (plenum, 1998). As with these proceedings, this volume contains records of discussions made not only after each presentation but also during the periods of General Discussion, in order that general readers may properly evaluate each presentation and the up-to-date situation of this research field. It was my great pleasure to have Dr. Hugh Huxley, a principal discoverer of the sliding fIlament mechanism in muscle contraction, in this meeting. On my request, Dr. Huxley kindly gave a special lecture on his monumental discovery of myofIlament-lattice structure by X-ray diffraction of living skeletal muscle. I hope general readers to learn how a breakthrough in a specific research field can be achieved.

New updated edition first published with Cambridge University Press. This new edition includes 29 chapters on topics as diverse as pathophysiology of atherosclerosis, vascular haemodynamics, haemostasis, thrombophilia and post-amputation pain syndromes.

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