An Introduction to Smooth Muscle Mechanics (2nd Edition)

Book excerpt: This second edition is an updated version of an introductory level textbook intended for students who are interested in understanding the mechanical properties of smooth muscle. Compared with skeletal and cardiac muscles, smooth muscle is the least understood in terms of its contraction mechanism and the structure of its contractile apparatus. Nevertheless, it is an important tissue that is vital in many organ functions, such as blood pressure control, intestinal peristalsis, and the emptying of the bladder. Dysfunction of the muscle has been implicated in many diseases such as high blood pressure, asthma, and overactive bladders. This is the only book-length treatment of functional models of a variety of smooth muscle behaviors with their corresponding mathematical descriptions, and offers an easy-to-follow, step-by-step mathematical derivation that will help students to appreciate the muscle cell as a fine-tuned aggregate of mechanisms governed by the fundamental laws of physics. In addition to providing a detailed description of the known subcellular structure and mechanical function of the contractile apparatus of smooth muscle, it also covers experimentation techniques, instrumentation, and data analysis. The book is a must-have information source for anyone interested in smooth muscle cell ultrastructure, physiology, biochemistry, and pharmacology.