Synopsis
This book explores a fascinating aspect of cell biology that is emerging as pivotal for a variety of signaling processes in cells throughout the body and is also a focus of abnormalities in various pathological conditions. Microdomains, also called lipid rafts are now recognized as playing fundamental roles in regulating a range of cellular processes from proliferation and differentation to signal transduction responses to a variety of stimull. In this book, experts in the field of lipid rafts and signal transduction provide detailed reviews of the current state of understanding of these membrane microdomains and their physiological and pathophysiological roles. Better understanding of the effects of dietary lipids on raft function may lead to novel ways to prevent and treat various diseases that involve abnormalities in lipid rafts.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
"...a good acquisition for general medical and neuroscience libraries." - Doody's Health Science Book Review Journal
From the Back Cover
Lipid rafts-discrete regions in cell membranes that are rich in cholesterol and sphingolipids-are emerging not only as pivotal command and control centers for cellular signaling processes, but also as central to a wide array of human diseases, including immune disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease. In Membrane Microdomain Signaling: Lipid Rafts in Biology and Medicine, multidisciplinary experts offer cutting-edge reviews of our current understanding of these membrane microdomains and their physiological and pathological roles. Here, readers will discover how lipid rafts change in cells over time and how they respond to various environmental signals, how cholesterol modulates the signaling function of lipid rafts, and how lipid rafts, the extracellular matrix, and the cell cytoskeleton structurally interact. Also described are the role of lipid rafts in learning, memory, and cancer, and as portals for endocytic uptake of an anticancer- and apoptotic alkyl-lysophospholipid. The authors also present emerging evidence that lipid rafts play critical roles in signaling pathways and the regulation of synaptic function in the nervous system, and that alterations in lipid raft metabolism are implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. They also describe techniques for the isolation of lipid rafts, the analysis of the lipid and protein components of lipid rafts, the imaging of lipid rafts in living cells, and the analysis of signal transduction in lipid rafts.
Comprehensive and insightful, Membrane Microdomain Signaling: Lipid Rafts in Biology and Medicine offers researchers a multidisciplinary review of the latest basic, translational, and clinical research that promises to transform our understanding microdomain signaling mechanisms.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
