Skeletal Muscle Plasticity In Health And Disease PDF Download

Biological systems have acquired efficient adaptive strategies to cope with physiological challenges and to maximize biochemical processes under imposed constraints. All living organisms possess the inherent ability to change the structural and functional properties of their tissues in accordance to several health or disease-related conditions. Plasticity is the word used since the late 1970 s to designate all the processes and mechanisms behind adaptation. Muscle plasticity, in particular, is an unequivocal example of this biological feature. In fact, muscle is a very specialized tissue with an amazingly high malleability to adapt to distinct functional and metabolic demands by altering key molecular pathways. Moreover, as proposed in this book, muscle plasticity could also be extended to the ability of skeletal muscle to interact with other organs and mediate some of the stimuli-induced changes in other organs. Muscle cells are able to detect mechanical, metabolic, neuronal and hormonal signals which are transduced over multiple pathways to the muscle genome. Examples of muscle plasticity abound, from exercise adaptations, to the effects of environmental stressors, to the aging process, and to an assortment of disease-related conditions. Therefore, muscle plasticity forms a major basis for biological adaptation to physiological and pathophysiological conditions and thus, as we will become aware from the several chapters presented in this book, it can have both beneficial and maladaptive consequences. The goal of this multi-author book is to examine the current understanding regarding some physiological and biochemical events known to be involved in muscle adaptive response to altered health or disease-related circumstances. Notwithstanding the importance of other key organelles in cellular metabolism and function, muscle stimuli-targeting alterations in mitochondrial structure, biochemistry and function assume particular relevance throughout some chapters of this book. Issues related to muscle remodelling by physical exercise/contractile activity including molecular mechanisms of altered muscle use and hypertrophy, muscle disuse, aging processes, conditions of caloric restriction, hypoxia, as well as by some pathophysiological states such as obesity, cachexia, insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, ischemia and ischemia-reperfusion make the scientific agenda of this book. As free radicals are known as powerful signalling molecules in cellular metabolism, a special emphasis on muscle redox-based modulation is noticeable throughout this book. However, even though this book covers a wide range of knowledge, it does not examine all aspects of physiology and biochemistry of muscle plasticity. Among many others, these would include several issues, such as inflammation, atrophy, satellite cell function in regeneration, regulation of excitation-contraction coupling, muscle architecture, as well as the response of muscle to distinct pharmacological agents. Topics like these are approached in other expertise devoted reviews. We are delighted to be involved in this project and gratefully acknowledged to the outstanding contribution of the authors. We hope that this book will be of interest to a wide basic and applied biomedical science audience, from physiologists to biochemists, especially those that embrace with excitement the wonders of muscle plasticity. Lastly, we also hope that the fascinating scientific platform of muscle plasticity would foster a plasticity of mind in developing new hypotheses and approaching challenges.