Textbook of Ion Channels Volume I: Fundamental Mechanisms and Methodologies

The Textbook of Ion Channels is  a set of three volumes providing a wide-ranging reference source on ion  channels for students, instructors and researchers. Ion channels are  membrane proteins that control the electrical properties of neurons and  cardiac cells; mediate the detection and response to sensory stimuli  like light, sound, odor, and taste; and regulate the response to  physical stimuli like temperature and pressure. In non-excitable  tissues, ion channels are instrumental for the regulation of basic salt  balance that is critical for homeostasis. Ion channels are located at  the surface membrane of cells, giving them the unique ability to  communicate with the environment, as well as the membrane of  intracellular organelles, allowing them to regulate internal  homeostasis. Ion channels are fundamentally important for human health  and diseases, and are important targets for pharmaceuticals in mental  illness, heart disease, anesthesia, pain and other clinical  applications. The modern methods used in their study are powerful and  diverse, ranging from single ion-channel measurement techniques to  models of ion channel diseases in animals, and human clinical trials for  ion channel drugs.

Volume I, Part 1  covers fundamental topics such as the basic principles of ion  permeation and selectivity, voltage-dependent, ligand-dependent, and  mechano-dependent ion channel activation mechanisms, the mechanisms for  ion channel desensitization and inactivation, and basic ion channel  pharmacology and inhibition. Volume I, Part 2 offers a practical guide  of cardinal methods for researching ion channels, including heterologous  expression and voltage-clamp and patch-clamp electrophysiology;  isolation of native currents using patch clamping; modeling ion channel  gating, structures, and its dynamics; crystallography and cryo-electron  microscopy; fluorescence and paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy  methods; and genetics approaches in model organisms.

All  three volumes give the reader an introduction to fundamental concepts  needed to understand the mechanism of ion channels; a guide to the  technical aspects of ion channel research; a modern guide to the  properties of major ion channel families; and includes coverage of key  examples of regulatory, physiological and disease roles for ion  channels.