This volume intends to provide a comprehensive overview on the mecha nisms of muscle contraction and non-muscle cell motility at the molecu lar and cellular level, not only for investigators in these fields but also for general readers interested in these topics. A most attractive feature of various living organisms in the animal and plant kingdoms is their ability to move. In spite of a great diversity in the structure and function of various motile systems, it has frequently been assumed since the nineteenth century that all kinds of "motility" are essentially the same. Based on this assumption, some investigators in the nineteenth century thought that the mechanisms of motility could better be studied on primitive non-muscle motile systems such as amoeboid movement, rath er than on highly specialized muscle cells. Contrary to their expectation, however, the basic mechanisms of motility have been revealed solely by investigations on vertebrate skeletal muscles, since a monumental discovery of Szent-Gyorgyi and his coworkers in the early 1940s that muscle contraction results from the interaction between two different contractile proteins, actin and myosin, coupled with ATP hydrolysis.

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.

Motility is a fundamental property of living systems, from the cytoplasmic streaming of unicellular organisms to the most highly differentiated and devel oped contractile system of higher organisms, striated muscle. Research on var ious aspects of motile systems in muscle and undifferentiated or non muscle cells has been developing at an ever more rapid pace in the laboratories of investiga tors with a wide variety of backgrounds using methodologies varying from me chanics to the most sophisticated physical measurements. Significant contri butions to our understanding of motility are coming from the disciplines of cell biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology, biophysics, and physiology. The findings have relevance not only to basic scientists but to clinicians in such diverse fields as cardiology and neurology and to scientists in the more traditional physical sciences. Cell and Muscle Motility is a new multivolume series of essays by distinguished research workers in various fields whose work has a common thread of dealing with one aspect or another of motility. The essays are meant to focus on topics of current interest, to be critical rather than exhaustive, and to indicate the current trends of research efforts. The series is intended to foster an interchange of concepts among various workers in the field and to serve as a reference for students and workers who wish to familiarize themselves with the most current progress in motility.