The contraction of smooth muscle is an essential process underpinning diverse physiological functions ranging from gastrointestinal motility to vascular regulation. At its core, smooth muscle ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Journal Information PNAS is the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific serial. It publishes high-impact research reports, commentaries, ...

Numerous motor and structural proteins compose a highly ordered structure known as the sarcomere, the basic unit of muscle contraction in heart and skeletal muscles. Sarcomeric myosin heavy chain ...

Segments of the obliquely striated body muscle of Ascaris were fixed at minimum body length after treatment with acetylcholine and at maximum body length after treatment with piperazine citrate and ...

There are major shifts underway in understanding the physiological mechanisms that control muscle contraction, a field that has been the focus of intense research for centuries. A new article presents ...

The mechanism of skeletal muscle contraction is a process that relies on calcium signaling. However, the physiological role of calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) through the ryanodine receptor ...

Researchers describe a new mechanism for muscle repair after physiological damage relying on the rearrangement of muscle fibre nuclei, and independently of muscle stem cells. Muscle is known to ...

Using zebrafish larvae, biologists have discovered neural mechanisms that suppress slow muscle activity in fish swimming at high speeds. In vertebrate muscles, there are slow and fast muscle fibers.