Cell adhesion comes into play in almost all domains of life. The range of situations in which it occurs, involving organisms, living tissues, microorganisms or single cells, is endless. Cell adhesion is involved in the binding of a cell to a surface, extracellular matrix, or another cell using cell adhesion molecules. It is crucial in the formation and maintenance of coherent multicellular structures. Cell surface adhesion molecules (integrins, for example) which transmit information from the extracellular matrix to the cell play vital roles in numerous cellular processes. Some of these include: cell growth, differentiation, embryogenesis, immune cell transmigration and response, and cancer metastasis. Also cell adhesion is involved in most of pathological situations. This book is divided into four parts as follows: Part 1: Fundamentals of Cell Adhesion; Part 2: Methods to Study Cell Adhesion; Part 3: Surface Treatments to Control Cell Adhesion and Behavior; and Part 4: Cell Adhesion in Medicine and Therapy. A bountiful information is covered in this book which represents the cumulative wisdom of many world-renowned researchers( physicists, materials scientists, chemists and biologists) engaged in unraveling the mechanisms of cell adhesion and how to mitigate or control it. It quite patent from the topics covered in this book that the subject of cell adhesion is truly interdisciplinary. This book should be of great interest and value to anyone interested in cell adhesion which is vitally important to human life.

Cell adhesion plays a central role in development and disease. Cell adhesion to particular ligands can affect cytoskeletal organization and cell polarity, cell proliferation, and gene expression. This book is divided into two parts. The first section provides a discussion of the structure and function of the seven major classes of cell adhesion molecules: integrins, cadherins, selectins, heparan sulfate proteoglycans, the immunoglobulin superfamily, the ADAMs proteins, and transmembrane protein tyrosine phosphatases. The roles of these cell adhesion proteins in important processes such as cell mediated immunity, development and disease are discussed. In the second section, the molecular organization and function of junctional complexes, regions of the cell surface that are highly specialized for cell adhesion, are examined. Junctional complexes are now known to mediate adhesive interactions and contribute to transmembrane signaling events that dramatically influence cell behaviour. The biochemical organization of the adhesive membranes and the molecular mechanisms by which they transmit information to the cell are addressed. Written by contributors among the most prominent in the field, Cell Adhesion covers a wide range of topics in a single volume. It will be a great resource for students, teachers and researchers.

The microcirculation is highly responsive to, and a vital participant in, the inflammatory response. All segments of the microvasculature (arterioles, capillaries, and venules) exhibit characteristic phenotypic changes during inflammation that appear to be directed toward enhancing the delivery of inflammatory cells to the injured/infected tissue, isolating the region from healthy tissue and the systemic circulation, and setting the stage for tissue repair and regeneration. The best characterized responses of the microcirculation to inflammation include impaired vasomotor function, reduced capillary perfusion, adhesion of leukocytes and platelets, activation of the coagulation cascade, and enhanced thrombosis, increased vascular permeability, and an increase in the rate of proliferation of blood and lymphatic vessels. A variety of cells that normally circulate in blood (leukocytes, platelets) or reside within the vessel wall (endothelial cells, pericytes) or in the perivascular space (mast cells, macrophages) are activated in response to inflammation. The activation products and chemical mediators released from these cells act through different well-characterized signaling pathways to induce the phenotypic changes in microvessel function that accompany inflammation. Drugs that target a specific microvascular response to inflammation, such as leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion or angiogenesis, have shown promise in both the preclinical and clinical studies of inflammatory disease. Future research efforts in this area will likely identify new avenues for therapeutic intervention in inflammation. Table of Contents: Introduction / Historical Perspectives / Anatomical Considerations / Impaired Vasomotor Responses / Capillary Perfusion / Angiogenesis / Leukocyte-Endothelial Cell Adhesion / Platelet-Vessel Wall Interactions / Coagulation and Thrombosis / Endothelial Barrier Dysfunction / Epilogue / References

The books in this acclaimed series provide integrated, critical surveys of topics of current interest to the pharmaceutical industry. Cellular Adhesion: Molecular Definition to Therapeutic Potential covers the molecular definition of adhesion molecule structure and function, the biological consequences of cellular adhesion, and the therapeutic potential of targeting adhesion molecules.

Attachment to host cells or tissues is often the first step in the establishment of bacterial infections. A complex array of recognition, attachment, and virulence factors is involved in this process, which recent research has greatly illuminated. This comprehensive and authoritative volume discusses the specific cell and tissue-specific affinities of pathogenic microorganisms, including bioinorganic surfaces such as teeth, and is an essential reference for researchers and students of host-pathogen interactions.

This book covers the structure and classification of adhesion molecules in relation to signaling pathways and gene expression. It discusses immunohistochemical localization, neutrophil migration, and junctional, functional, and inflammatory adhesion molecules in pathologies such as leukocyte decompression sickness and ischemia reperfusion injury. H