A new molecular pathway has been identified that is critical for maintaining the smooth muscle tone that allows the passage of materials through the digestive system. Researchers at UMass Medical ...

Activation of muscarinic receptors on the detrusor smooth muscle is followed by contraction, which involves both myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) and Rho kinase (ROCK). The aim of this study was to ...

The mechanism of skeletal muscle contraction is a process that relies on calcium signaling. However, the physiological role ...

In vascular strips, the adjacent endothelial cells modulate the contraction of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) induced by sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) through nitric oxide (NO). The aim of ...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 105, No. 47 (Nov. 25, 2008), pp. 18614-18618 (5 pages) ...

Researchers engineered mice with a mutation (E3896A) in the RyR1 calcium-binding site, eliminating calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) without affecting depolarization-induced calcium release. The ...

A new study by researchers at Yale and Johns Hopkins University has discovered how asthmatic bronchial spasms — muscle contractions in the airway that cause difficulty breathing in asthma patients— ...

Mucous cell hyperplasia and airway smooth muscle (ASM) hyperresponsiveness are hallmark features of inflammatory airway diseases, including asthma. Here, we show that the recently identified ...

Muscle contraction is the tightening, shortening, or lengthening of muscles when you do some activity. It can happen when you hold or pick up something, or when you stretch or exercise with weights.

Diabetes mellitus is associated with a spectrum of gastric emptying abnormalities, including transient slow gastric emptying, transient fast gastric emptying, persistent slow or delayed gastric ...