Smooth Muscle, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1975

The study of the actions of drugs on smooth muscle has been a preoccupation of many pharmacologists almost from the beginning of the discipline. To a con­ siderable degree, the development of theories to explain drug actions on smooth muscle has occurred somewhat independently of the development of our knowledge of the physiology, biochemistry, and biophysics of smooth muscle. This knowledge has developed rapidly in the past decade, and some of its consequences for our understanding of drug-receptor interactions in smooth muscle have not always been fully appreciated or accepted. One of the purposes of this volume is to provide pharmacologists with some understanding of the physiology, biophysics, and bio­ chemistry of smooth muscle and of related advances in methodology so as to facilitate the incorporation of such knowledge and related methods into future pharmacological studies of smooth muscle and drug interactions. Another purpose of the book is to provide both graduate students and in­ vestigators in pharmacology and related disciplines with a summary of the numerous methods that have evolved or are available for the study of drug and smooth muscle interactions, and, in particular, to highlight their possible uses and limitations. Perhaps, because of the diversity in content and difficulty of these methods, there has to our knowledge never been a previous attempt to bring them together in one place. We have not, of course, succeeded entirely in this objective.

I Ultrastructure.- 1 Ultrastructure of Smooth Muscle.- 2 Cell-to-Cell Contacts.- II Innervation.- 3 Localization of Biogenic Amines by Fluorescence Microscopy.- 4 Techniques for the Localization of Parasympathetic Nerves to Smooth Muscle.- 5 Ultrastructure of Autonomic Nerves and Neuroeffector Junctions; Analysis of Drug Action.- III Isolation and Characterization of Contractile Proteins.- 6 Isolation and Identification of Smooth Muscle Contractile Proteins.- IV Recording of Electrical and Mechanical Activity.- 7 Recording Electrical and Mechanical Activities of Smooth Muscle.- 8 Recording of Extracellular Electrical Activity.- 9 Recording of Intracellular Electrical Activity with Microelectrodes.- 10 Recording of Intracellular Electrical Activity with the Sucrose-Gap Method.- 11 Recording of Intracellular Electrical Activity vrith the Voltage-Clamp Technique with Double Sucrose-Gap.- 12 The Recording of Mechanical Responses of Smooth Muscle.- 13 Physical Properties of Contractile Systems.- V Methods of Stimulation.- 14 Excitation of Nerves.- 15 Transmural and Field Stimulation of Nerve-Smooth Muscle Preparations.- 16 Electrical Stimulation of Muscle: Field Stimulation.- 17 Stimulation with High Potassium.- 18 Stimulation by Stretch.- VI Nerve-Muscle Preparations.- 19 Nerve-Muscle Preparations of the Small Intestine.- 20 Nerve-Muscle Preparations of Large Intestine.- 21 The Peristaltic Reflex.- 22 Nerve-Muscle Preparations of Vas Deferens.- 23 Nerve-Muscle Preparations of Genito-Urinary Muscle (Other Than Vas Deferens).- 24 Nerve-Muscle Preparations of Vascular Smooth Muscle.- 25 Nerve-Muscle Preparations of the Isolated Perfused Spleen.- 26 Nerve-Muscle Preparations of the Nictitating Membrane.- VII Analysis of Drug-Receptor Interaction.- 27 Analysis of Dose-Response Curves.- 28 Analysis of the Time Course of Action of Drugs on Smooth Muscle.- VIII Smooth Muscle Models.- 29 Models of Smooth Muscle Electrical Activity.- IX Biochemical Techniques.- 30 Homogenization and Fractionation Techniques in Smooth Muscle.- 31 Energy Metabolism: Methods in Isolated Smooth Muscle and Methods at Cellular and Subcellular Levels.- 32 Measurement of Adenyl Cyclase and Cyclic AMP.- 33 Measurement of Catecholamines.- 34 Measurement of Acetylcholine.- 35 Measurement of Adenine Nucleotides.- X Analysis of ion Fluxes.- 36 Extracellular Space Measurements.- 37 Estimation of the State of Ions in Smooth Muscle.- 38 Compartmental Analysis of Ion Movements.- 39 Analysis of Bulk-Diffusion-Limited Exchange of Ions in Smooth Muscle Preparations.- 40 Computer-Assisted Analysis of Fluxes of Ions and Other Substances.- 41 Influx and Efflux Measurements.