Main description:

This is the first book that is not exclusively focused on ion channels functioning in sensory mechanisms that are characteristic of animals and humans, but also describes the role of ion channels in signal transduction mechanisms found in microbial cells and plants. It summarizes comprehensively the progress that has been made in studies of ion channels and their role in sensory physiology.

Contents:

Microbial Senses and Ion Channels.- Mechanosensitive Channels and Sensing Osmotic Stimuli in Bacteria.- Roles of Ion Channels in the Environmental Responses of Plants.- Ion Channels, Cell Volume, Cell Proliferation and Apoptotic Cell Death.- TRPV Ion Channels and Sensory Transduction of Osmotic and Mechanical Stimuli in Mammals.- Mechanisms of Thermosensation in TRP Channels.- TRPC Family of Ion Channels and Mechanotransduction.- Mechano- and Chemo-Sensory Polycystins.- Biophysics of CNG Ion Channels.- Sensory Transduction in Caenorhabditis elegans.- Epithelial Sodium and Acid-Sensing Ion Channels.- P2X3 Receptors and Sensory Transduction.- Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels in Nociception.