This volume addresses the structural and functional roles of the cytoskeleton and its dysfunctions which often lead to disease. It provides thorough discussion of microtubules, microfilaments, intermediate filaments, and cytoskeletal functions and dysfunctions in different organ systems. Comprehensive yet concise. The Cytoskeleton In Health And Disease presents cutting-edge discoveries balanced with background information and highlights the new aspects of the research and its impact on the design of new strategies or the identification of new targets for therapeutic intervention. There is a significant need for a book on this topic, as interest in the cytoskeleton continues to grow as causes and cures for cytoskeletal diseases are further explored in biomedical research. This book is essential reading for scientists, students, and teachers interested in expanding their knowledge related to the cytoskeleton. New researchers entering the field will find classic and well as contemporary information not easily found in the current literature or internet resources.

This book provides an overview on the organization and function of the microtubule cytoskeleton, which is essential to many cellular processes and profoundly linked to a range of human diseases. Covering basic concepts as well as molecular details, the book discusses how microtubules are nucleated and organized into ordered arrays, at different cell cycle stages and in distinct cell types. In addition, the book highlights how defects in the microtubule cytoskeleton are linked to diseases such as neurodevelopmental disorders. The book is intended for students, graduates and more senior researchers in cell and developmental biology as well as for medical doctors.

This book discusses the primary functions of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) such as MAP2 and tau in neuronal morphogenesis, as well as relationships between neuronal differentiation and the expression of neuronal intermediate filaments (nestin, alpha internexin, and neurofilament triplet proteins). It emphasizes the importance of several cytoskeletal proteins for neuronal differentiation and morphogenesis, organelle transport, and synaptic functions. The book considers the involvement of tau MAPs in the formation of paired helical filaments in Alzheimer's disease, and it examines the mechanisms of organelle transports and molecular motors such as kinesin, braindynein, and kinesin superfamily proteins. Cytoskeletal proteins involved in synaptic formation and transmitter release and new synaptic junctional-associated proteins are explored as well.

The cytoskeleton is comprised of a variety of specialized proteins, and is a dynamic structure that is involved in the majority of key cellular events. There is increasing interest in the role of the cytoskeleton in human disease. This volume brings together human disease states where cytoskeletal disruptions are driving disease. Our emerging understanding of the molecular and cellular events that drive cytoskeletal mediated diseases including cancer, heart disease, myopathies and skin disorders, are also helping shape targeted therapeutic approaches to treating these diseases.

The cytoskeleton is the intracellular filament system that controls the morphology of a cell, allows it to move, and provides trafficking routes for intracellular transport. It comprises three major filament systems-actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments-along with a host of adaptors, regulators, molecular motors, and additional structural proteins. This textbook presents a comprehensive and up-to-date view of the cytoskeleton, cataloguing its many different components and explaining how they are functionally integrated in different cellular processes. It starts by laying out the basic molecular hardware, before describing in detail how these components are assembled in cells and linked to neighboring cells and the extracellular matrix to maintain tissue architecture. It then surveys the roles of the cytoskeleton in processes such as intracellular transport, cell motility, signal transduction, and cell division. The book is thus essential reading for students learning about intracellular structure. It also represents a vital reference for all cell and developmental biologists working in this field.

Nanoneuroscience is the study of computationally relevant biomolecules found inside neurons. Because of recent technological advances at the nanometer scale, scientists have at their disposal increasingly better ways to study the brain and the biophysics of its molecules. This book describes how biomolecules contribute to the operations of synapses and perform other computationally relevant functions inside dendrites. These biomolecular operations considerably expand the brain-computer analogy - endowing each neuron with the processing power of a silicon-based multiprocessor. Amazingly, the brain contains hundreds of billions of neurons.

Intermediate filaments are a large family of proteins that are the cytoskeletal elements involved in a number of skin, liver, neuromuscular, cardiac, eye and hair diseases. Intermediate filament genes are regulated in a tissue-and cell type-specific manner and their polymerized protein products protects the cells and tissue they are part of against a variety of mechanical and nonmechanical stresses. This book provides a comprehensive resource of methodology essentials, describing a variety of essential tools and assays for studying intermediate filaments. The book provides user-friendly advice and protocols covering all aspects of intermediate filaments including protein isolation and structure, protein and gene regulation, relationship to disease and apoptosis, and associated proteins. Both mammalian and non-mammalian systems and animal models are covered, making this book a must-have for any investigator wishing to study IF genes or their protein products. * Covers intermediate filaments from crystallography, protein chemistry, cell and molecular biology, microrheology, gene regulation, to animal models and human disease * Practical and user-friendly with detailed "how-to-protocols and "tricks of the trade" * Includes detailed tables of useful reagents, vendors and web links

The cytoskeleton is a highly dynamic intracellular platform constituted by a three-dimensional network of proteins responsible for key cellular roles as structure and shape, cell growth and development, and offering to the cell with "motility" that being the ability of the entire cell to move and for material to be moved within the cell in a regulated fashion (vesicle trafficking). The present edition of Cytoskeleton provides new insights into the structure-functional features, dynamics, and cytoskeleton's relationship to diseases. The authors' contribution in this book will be of substantial importance to a wide audience such as clinicians, researches, educators, and students interested in getting updated knowledge about molecular basis of cytoskeleton, such as regulation of cell vital processes by actin-binding proteins as cell morphogenesis, motility, their implications in cell signaling, as well as strategies for clinical trial and alternative therapies based in multitargeting molecules to tackle diseases, that is, cancer.

Cardioskeletal Myopathies in Children and Young Adults focuses on plaques that kill people in their 40's-50's and the way they start to form in young adulthood. The Annals of Family Medicine report that approximately half of young adults have at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor (Mar 2010), and an increase in cardiovascular mortality rates in young adults was substantiated in a study at Northwestern Medicine (Nov 2011). Given the increasing recognition of genetic triggers behind all types of cardiovascular disease, and the growing population of young adults with primary or acquired myocardial disease, the need has arisen for a reference that offers a comprehensive approach to the understanding of basic, translational, and clinical aspects of specific muscle diseases while making the link between young adult and adult health. - Reveals the link between cardiac muscle disease and skeletal muscle disease - Explains how genetics and environmental factors effect muscle function of diverse origins - Designates current and novel therapeutic strategies that target both cardiac and skeletal muscle systems