The main aim of this monograph is to provide an overview of calcium regulation in cardiac muscle cells, particularly with respect to excitation-contraction coupling and the control of cardiac contractile force. It is my hope that this book will be useful to students of the cardiovascular system and muscle at all different levels and in different disciplines (such as physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology and pathophysiology). I also hope that it will find use for those studying developmental, comparative and disease processes as well as more integrative phenomenon. I kept several goals in mind in writing this monograph. First, it should be easily readable. Second, I chose to include numerous illustrations and tables to help integrate results from numerous investigators in practical formats and also present key figures from important papers. Thus, this monograph may serve as a resource of information for people working in the areas described herein. Third, the presentation is a very personal one, and I have necessarily drawn extensively on my personal experience in this field over the past 15 years. This, I think, helps maintain a certain continuity of thought from chapter to chapter. Fourth, I have made serious attempts to make each chapter "up to date", despite the breadth of topics covered. I have also tried to be equitable in choosing references while not intending to be comprehensive or exhaustive. Neither of these aims can be perfectly matched, and I apologize to the many investigators whose papers I have not cited, but should have.

Klappentext
A general scheme of Ca regulation is described and the possible sources and sinks of Ca are discussed in a simple but quantitative manner. Then the characteristics of some of the key systems (sarcolemmal Ca channels, Na/Ca exchange and SR Ca uptake and release) are discussed in detail. This is then built into a more integrated picture of Ca regulation in succeeding chapters by detailed discussions of E-C coupling mechanisms (in skeletal cardiac and smooth muscle), the interplay between Ca regulatory processes and, finally, mechanisms of cardiac inotropy and Ca overload. This book should be useful to students of cardiac muscle physiology from many different levels and disciplines. For the student it is easy to read, after an introductory physiology course, and for the research specialist it integrates adjacent fields in a way that provides perspective.

Inhalt

1. Major cellular structures involved in E-C coupling.- 2. Myofilaments: The end effector of E-C Coupling.- 3. Possible sources and sinks of activator calcium.- 4. Ca influx via sarcolemmal Ca channels.- 5. Na/Ca exchange and the sarcolemmal Ca-pump.- 6. Sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca uptake, content and release.- 7. Excitation-Contraction Coupling.- 8. Control of cardiac contraction by SR Ca release and sarcolemmal Ca fluxes.- 9. Cardiac inotropy and Ca overload.- References.