Calcium in Muscle Contraction: Cellular and Molecular Physiology [Paperback]

Recent years have witnessed an explosion of knowledge lea-ding to a molecular understanding of the mechanisms of ac-tion of calcium on excitation and contraction coupling andits role in the regulation of contractility. This bookhighlights the most recent progress as well as providing ahistorial perspective of the field. It presents a conciseand comprehensive overview of our current knowledge regar-ding calcium channels and regulatory proteins as well as in-tracellular calcium handling and the mechanisms underlyingthe activation of contractile proteins. It also describeshow these basic mechanisms have been adapted in varioustypes of muscle, especially in cardiac and smooth muscle.1. Muscle Excitation and Contraction.- 1.1 Muscle Excitation.- 1.2 Electromechanical Coupling.- 1.3 The Contractile Process.- 2. The Sarcoplasmic Reticulum: Storage and Release of Calcium.- 2.1 Inward Spread of Excitation in the Transverse System (T-System).- 2.2 Calcium Release from the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum (SR).- 2.3 Calcium Reuptake by the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum.- 3. The Dependence of Muscle Contraction and Relaxation on the Intracellular Concentration of Free Calcium Ions.- 3.1 Crustacean Muscle.- 3.2 Vertebrate Skeletal Muscle.- 4. Calcium Binding and Regulatory Proteins.- 4.1 Structure and Function of Troponin.- 4.2 Alterations of Thin Filaments Trigger Contraction.- 4.3 Ancillary Calcium-Binding Proteins: Calmodulin, Parvalbumin, and Myosin Light Chains.- 5. Diversity of Fast and Slow Striated Muscle.- 5.1 Vertebrate Tonic Muscle Fibres.- 5.2 Comparison of Mammalian Fast- and Slow-Twitch Fibres.- 5.3 Diversity of Crustacean Muscles.- 5.4 Insect Flight Muscle.- 5.5 Obliquely Striated Muscle of Annelids and Nematodes.- 5.6 Generalizations and Conclusions.- 6. Myosin-Linked Regulation of Molluscan Muscle.- 6.1 Calcium Regulation in the Striated Adductor of the Scallop.- 6.2 Catch Muscles.- 6.3 Summary.- 7. The Vertebrate Heart: Modulation olc7