Journal of Cachexia,sarcopenia Muscle

The book addresses the development of muscle atrophy, which can be caused by denervation, disuse, excessive fasting, aging, and a variety of diseases including heart failure, chronic kidney diseases and cancers. Muscle atrophy reduces quality of life and increases morbidity and mortality worldwide. The book is divided into five parts, the first of which describes the general aspects of muscle atrophy including its characteristics, related economic and health burdens, and the current clinical therapy. Secondly, basic aspects of muscle atrophy including the composition, structure and function of skeletal muscle, muscle changes in response to atrophy, and experimental models are summarized.

The first evidence that electrical changes can cause muscles to contract was p- vided by Galvani (1791). Galvani’s ideas about ‘animal electricity’ were explored during the 19th and 20th century when it was firmly established that ‘electricity’ is one of the most important mechanisms used for communication by the nervous system and muscle. These researches lead to the development of ever more soph- ticated equipment that could either record the electrical changes in nerves and muscles, or elicit functional changes by electrically stimulating these structures. It was indeed the combination of these two methods that elucidated many of the basic principles about the function of the nervous system. Following these exciting findings, it was discovered that electrical stimulation and the functions elicited by it also lead to long-term changes in the properties of nerves and particularly muscles.

This book discusses recent advances and various topics in plasticity of skeletal muscle from the perspectives of morphology, biological function, and clinical applications. Skeletal muscle is a highly plastic organ to adapt to environmental various demands, appears to endocrine various myokines, which flow into blood to protect the recognizing function of brain and inhibit the appearance of several cancer tumorigenesis.