Main description:

This collection of reviews will be of considerable interests to biologists and MDs working on any aspect of cardiovascular function. With state-of-the-art reviews written by competent experts in the field, the content is also of interest for MSc and PhD students in most fields of cardiovascular physiology.

Contents:

Chapter 1. Comparative evolution and design in non-vertebrate cardiovascular systems
B.R. McMahon

Chapter 2. The teleost heart: A morphological approach
Jose M. Icardo

Chapter 3. Fish Heart Growth and Function: From Gross Morphology to Cell Signalling and Back
B. Tota and F. Garofalo

Chapter 4. A perspective on the evolution of the coronary circulation in fishes and the transition to terrestrial life
A.P. Farrell, N.D. Farrell, H. Jourdan and G. Cox

Chapter 5. The sarcoplasmatic reticulum in the vertebrate heart
Gina L J Galli and Holly A Shiels

Chapter 6. Evolution of the regulatory control of the vertebrate heart: the role of the contractile proteins
Todd E. Gillis

Chapter 7. Ontogenesis of myocardial function
David Sedmera, and Bohuslav Ostadal

Chapter 8. Basic Cardiac Development: The heart and its electrical components
L.Y.E. Wong, A.F. Moorman, and P. Barnett

Chapter 9. The Functional Significance of the Reptilian Heart: New Insights into an Old Question
James W. Hicks, and Tobias Wang