The Structure And Function Of Muscle 2 Biochemistry And Physiology

In Three Volumes. Volume 1, Structure; Volume 2, Biochemistry And Physiology; Volume 3, Pharmacology And Disease.

The papers in this volume were contributed by close friends, co-workers and pupils of Professor Setsuro Ebashi. They are dedicated to him to commemorate his great and pioneering contribution to the advancement of muscle physiology and biochemistry, which, in time, exerted a great influence on the whole field of life science. We believe that this issue reveals the present state of research on muscle and/or calcium that was opened up by Professor Ebashi.

The Structure and Function of Muscle, Second Edition: Volume II: Structure, Part 2 deals with various aspects of muscle structure, including physiology and microanatomy. The structure of the motor end plate is discussed, together with muscle regeneration and postmortem changes in muscle. Membranous systems in muscle fibers as well as the ultrastructural and physiological aspects of heart muscle are also considered. This volume is comprised of nine chapters and begins with an overview of how basic studies in uterine function and regulation promoted developments in reproduction, obstetrics, and regulatory biology, with emphasis on the basic mechanism of function and regulation of smooth muscles. The following chapters explore the capacitative, resistive, and syncytial properties of heart muscle; contractile structures in some Protozoa such as ciliates and gregarines; the microanatomy of smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and voluntary, somatic, or skeletal muscle; postmortem changes in the physical characteristics of muscle; and morphology of spontaneous degeneration and regeneration in skeletal muscle. The morphology, ultrastructure, and cytochemistry of the muscle spindle are also outlined. The final chapter deals with membraneous systems in muscle fibers and includes a discussion on correlation between physiology and morphology of fiber types in vertebrates and invertebrates. This book will be a useful resource for students, researchers, and practitioners of anatomy, physiology, biology, and medicine.

This valuable resource provides a systematic account of the biochemistry of smooth muscle contraction. As a comprehensive guide to this rapidly growing area of research, it covers the structure and characteristic properties of contractile and regulatory proteins, with special emphasis on their predicted function in the live muscle. Also included in this book are intermediate filament proteins, and desmin and vimentin, whose function in smooth muscle is unknown; and several enzymes involved in the phosphorylation-dephosphorylation of contractile and other proteins.

Muscle contraction has been the focus of scientific investigation for more than two centuries, and major discoveries have changed the field over the years. Early in the twentieth century, Fenn (1924, 1923) showed that the total energy liberated during a contraction (heat + work) was increased when the muscle was allowed to shorten and perform work. The result implied that chemical reactions during contractions were load-dependent. The observation underlying the “Fenn effect” was taken to a greater extent when Hill (1938) published a pivotal study showing in details the relation between heat production and the amount of muscle shortening, providing investigators with the force-velocity relation for skeletal muscles. Subsequently, two papers paved the way for the current paradigm in the field of muscle contraction. Huxley and Niedergerke (1954), and Huxley and Hanson (1954) showed that the width of the A-bands did not change during muscle stretch or activation. Contraction, previously believed to be caused by shortening of muscle filaments, was associated with sliding of the thick and thin filaments. These studies were followed by the classic paper by Huxley (1957), in which he conceptualized for the first time the cross-bridge theory; filament sliding was driven by the cyclical interactions of myosin heads (cross-bridges) with actin. The original cross-bridge theory has been revised over the years but the basic features have remained mostly intact. It now influences studies performed with molecular motors responsible for tasks as diverse as muscle contraction, cell division and vesicle transport.

The Comparative Structure and Function of Muscle is based upon a series of lectures given at the University of Lancaster over the last seven years, and it follows a natural division into structure, electrophysiology and excitation and mechanical activity. Within each section, an attempt is made to cover all muscle types in as wide a range of animals as the literature will allow. This book comprises 10 chapters, with the first one focusing on the fine structure of skeletal muscle. The following chapters then discuss the fine structure of cardiac and visceral muscle; the innervation of muscle; the ionic basis of the resting potential; the action potential and the activation of muscle; electrical activity and electrochemistry of invertebrate skeletal muscle; electrical activity of invertebrate and vertebrate cardiac muscle; the electrical activity and electrochemistry of visceral muscle; the mechanics of muscle; and excitation-contraction coupling and relaxation. This book will be of interest to practitioners in the fields of anatomy and the health sciences.