Regulation Of Matrix Accumulation

Regulation of Matrix Accumulation discusses the development of research and studies on connective tissue. This book emphasizes biochemical characterization of individual connective tissue components and interactions between cells and extracellular macromolecules. Other topics include the intracellular turnover of collagen; biological regulation of collagenase activity; feedback regulation of collagen synthesis; steroid hormone regulation of extracellular matrix proteins; and control of elastin synthesis, including its molecular and cellular aspects. The catalytic and biological properties of elastases; characterization and regulation of lysyl oxidase; and matrix accumulation and the development of form, considering proteoglycans and branching morphogenesis, are explained as well. Included in this text is an autobiography and personal retrospective by Miles Partridge, one of the contributors that greatly influenced the progress in understanding extracellular matrix biology. This publication is a good reference for students and researchers conducting work on biology, specifically on connective tissue.

Knowledge of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is essential to understand cellular differentiation, tissue development, and tissue remodeling. This volume of the series “Biology of Extracellular Matrix” provides a timely overview of the structure, regulation, and function of the major macromolecules that make up the extracellular matrix. It covers topics such as collagen types and assembly of collagen-containing suprastructures, basement membrane, fibronectin and other cell-adhesive glycoproteins, proteoglycans, microfibrils, elastin, fibulins and matricellular proteins, such as thrombospondin. It also explores the concept that ECM components together with their cell surface receptors can be viewed as intricate nano-devices that allow cells to physically organize their 3-D-environment. Further, the role of the ECM in human disease and pathogenesis is discussed as well as the use of model organisms in elucidating ECM function.

Most people, when they contemplate the living world, conclude that it is a designed place. So it is jarring when biologists come along and say this is all wrong. What most people see as design, they say--purposeful, directed, even intelligent--is only an illusion, something cooked up in a mind that is eager to see purpose where none exists. In these days of increasingly assertive challenges to Darwinism, the question becomes acute: is our perception of design simply a mental figment, or is there something deeper at work? Physiologist Scott Turner argues eloquently and convincingly that the apparent design we see in the living world only makes sense when we add to Darwin's towering achievement the dimension that much modern molecular biology has left on the gene-splicing floor: the dynamic interaction between living organisms and their environment. Only when we add environmental physiology to natural selection can we begin to understand the beautiful fit between the form life takes and how life works. In The Tinkerer's Accomplice, Scott Turner takes up the question of design as a very real problem in biology; his solution poses challenges to all sides in this critical debate.

Written by internationally known European and American scientists, these volumes systematically present many topics in the elastin and elastases fields. Volume I explains elastin, its biosynthesis, physicochemical properties, and alteration in a variety of pathologies and with aging. Volume II describes elastases, their physiological and pathological roles and their control by natural and synthetic inhibitors. Filled with illustrations and figures, these volumes will benefit researchers, physicians, and industrial scientists.

In the ten-year interval since the first edition of this volume went to press, our knowledge of extracellular matrix (ECM) function and structure has enor mously increased. Extracellular matrix and cell-matrix interaction are now routine topics in the meetings and annual reviews sponsored by cell biology societies. Research in molecular biology has so advanced the number of known matrix molecules and the topic of gene structure and regulation that we won dered how best to incorporate the new material. For example, we deliberated over the inclusion of chapters on molecular genetics. We decided that with judicious editing we could present the recent findings in molecular biology within the same cell biology framework that was used for the first edition, using three broad headings: what is extracellular matrix, how is it made, and what does it do for cells? Maintaining control over the review of literature on the subject of ECM was not always an easy task, but we felt it was essential to production of a highly readable volume, one compact enough to serve the the student as an introduction and the investigator as a quick update on graduate the important recent discoveries. The first edition of this volume enjoyed con hope the reader finds this edition equally useful. siderable success; we D. Hay Elizabeth vii Contents Introductory Remarks 1 Elizabeth D. Hay PART I. WHAT IS EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX? Chapter 1 Collagen T. F. Linsenmayer 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2. The Collagen Molecule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2. 1. Triple-Helical Domain(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Extensively revised and updated, the new edition of the highly regarded Handbook of Proteolytic Enzymes is an essential reference for biochemists, biotechnologists and molecular biologists. Edited by world-renowned experts in the field, this comprehensive work provides detailed information on all known proteolytic enzymes to date. This two-volume set unveils new developments on proteolytic enzymes which are being investigatedin pharmaceutical research for such diseases as HIV, Hepatitis C, and the common cold. Volume I covers aspartic and metallo petidases while Volume II examines peptidases of cysteine, serine, threonine and unknown catalytic type. A CD-ROM accompanies the book containing fully searchable text, specialised scissile bond searches, 3-D color structures and much more. The only comprehensive book on proteolytic enzymes Includes 671 chapters, each written by experts in their field, on proteolytic enzymes from all groups of living organisms and the viruses, including those that are currently major targets of pharmaceutical research Accompanying CD-ROM provides fully searchable text, 2D structures of peptidases in color and links directly to PubMed and MEROPS databases Each chapter describes in detail the enzyme name, its history, activity and specificity, structural chemistry, preparation, biological aspects and distinguishing features Over 1000 peptidases included

This book describes every manner in which collagen is involved in normal anddisease-altered states of the various organs and systems. In the first part of the book the biochemical aspects of collagens are reviewed, including their structure, heterogeneity, syntheses, and degradation. The main part focuses on the involvement of collagen in bone, cartilage, tendon, muscle, heart, vessels, lungs, liver, skin, eye, ear, teeth, periodontal tissues, kidneys and reproductive, hemopoietic,and nervous systems. The influence of radiation and nutrition on collagen, the role of collagen in neoplasms, the hormonal control of its metabolism, immunobiology and the pharmacology of collagen are also described. The most important feature of the book is the comprehensive review of the medical aspects of collagen, from those known in detail to those only hypothesized including hereditary disorders affecting collagen and so-called collagen diseases. Each chapter reviewsknown or possible mechanisms of collagen involvement and changes in indices of collagen which can be measured in clinical practice to monitor these phenomena. The fact that collagen is involved into the pathophysiology of almost all organs and body systems means that physicians in almost all branches of medicine will find this book of great interest.