Muscle Contraction and Cell Motility: Fundamentals and Developments

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the current progress in muscle contraction and cell motility research. It discusses structural, mechanical, and biochemical characteristics of skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles, and cell motility. The experimental objects of the studies described in this volume extend from humans to molecules. A distinct feature of this volume is that, in some chapters, evidence against the textbook view is presented, showing how well-established dogma can be denied by an unexpected discovery. This book is as interesting as it is informative for general readers and young scientists alike, and it is sure to inspire both to challenge the enticing mysteries that still remain in this exciting research field.

Haruo Sugi graduated from the Postgraduate School of the University of Tokyo, Japan, with a PhD in 1962 and was appointed instructor in the Department of Physiology of the University of Tokyo. From 1965 to 1966, he worked at Columbia University as a research associate and at the National Institutes of Health as a visiting scientist. He was a professor in and chairman of the Department of Physiology, Teikyo University Medical School, Japan, from 1973 to 2004, when he became emeritus professor.