and water balance in insect eggs, ion and water transport across epithelia and the physiology of reproduction. This is an excellent volume, well edited and well documented with references useful to a wide range of basic biological scientists. The contributors have two things in common: they have accepted the eminent suitability of insects as vehicles to elucidate principles in cellular physiolo...

Specific lymphatic drainage techniques have come into use during the past 75 years. Osteopath F. P. Millard deserves credit for developing the first precise manual approach to the lymphatic system. Beginning in 1904, Millard conducted extensive lymphatic studies, the results of which he published in “Applied Anatomy of the Lymphatics” in 1922. In his writings, Millard used the term “lymphatic d...

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a multifactorial disease, highly associated with aging and characterized by increased prostate smooth muscle (PSM) contractility. Animal models have been employed to explore the aging-associated PSM hypercontractility; however, studies focused in old animals, neglecting initial alterations early ages. The determination of dysfunctions onset crucial understa...

A 7-month-old girl with no medical history was treated with mechanical circulatory support due to myocarditis. Her cardiac contractility did not improve despite more than one week of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment. Thus, we planned a heart transplant. However, a high level of cytomegalovirus was found in blood laboratory results by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The pati...

BACKGROUND Peak first derivative of femoral artery pressure (arterial dP/dtmax) derived from fluid-filled catheter remains questionable to assess left ventricular (LV) contractility during shock. The aim of this study was to test if arterial dP/dtmax is reliable for assessing LV contractility during various hemodynamic conditions such as endotoxin-induced shock and catecholamine infusion. MET...

Chronic urethral obstruction and the ensuing bladder wall remodeling can lead to diminished bladder smooth muscle (BSM) contractility and debilitating lower urinary tract symptoms. No effective pharmacotherapy exists to restore BSM contractile function. Neuropilin 2 (Nrp2) is a transmembrane protein that is highly expressed in BSM. Nrp2 deletion in mice leads to increased BSM contraction. We de...

Although metabolic acidemia reduces the contractility of cardiac muscle in isolated preparations, it does not do so to the same extent in intact animals or those with a functioning sympathoadrenal system. The present study was designed to determine if the resistance of the heart to acidemia is the consequence of concurrent adrenergic influences on the myocardium. The function of the cat's left ...

Background. Most positive inotropic agents increase cardiac contractility by increasing the amount of Ca2 cycled with each beat. The additional amount of oxygen that is consumed by the heart to cycle this additional Ca2' is believed to reduce myocardial efficiency. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the agent EMD-53998 increases the Ca2' sensitivity of the contractile proteins withou...

Because superoxide dismutase (SOD) knockout enhances arteriolar remodeling and contractility, we hypothesized that remodeling enhances contractility. In the isolated and perfused renal afferent arterioles from SOD wild type (+/+) and gene-deleted mice, contractility was assessed from reductions in luminal diameter with perfusion pressure from 40 to 80 mm Hg (myogenic responses) or angiotensin I...

Tissue cells generally pull on their matrix attachments and balance a quasi-static contractility against adequate adhesion, but any correlation with and/or influence on phenotype are not yet understood. Here, we begin to demonstrate how differentiation state couples to actomyosin-based contractility through adhesion and substrate compliance. Myotubes are differentiated from myoblasts on collage...