Biology of Vascular Smooth Muscle : Vasoconstriction and Dilatation

This book provides a concise yet comprehensive review of the morphological, biochemical, electrical, mechanical, and metabolic properties of vascular smooth muscle, the regulation of vascular activities and the intracellular signaling involved. It particularly focuses on newly identified vasoactive agents, enzymes and transduction mechanisms. It also discusses the latest findings in the regulation of cerebral, coronary and pulmonary circulation as well as vascular activity under hypoxia and ageing. The second edition intends to update the contents of the first edition with the latest achievements in the regulation of vascular activities from biochemical, structural, genetic, physiological, and pharmacological aspects. In addition, two new chapters related to microRNA and extracellular vesicles have been added to reflect their newly discovered important roles in vascular activities.

The contraction and dilatation activities of vasculature are of fundamental importancefor maintaining circulation homeostasis and adapting to physiological changes. Over the last four decades, there have been significant advances in our understanding of the biochemical, structural, genetic, physiological, and pharmacological aspects of vascular activity regulation, and these insights into the responsiveness of blood vessels under normal and pathophysiological conditions help to provide valuable weapons in the fight vascular diseases. The book is of interest to researchers and graduate students, both in basic research and in clinic settings, in the field of vascular biology.

Dr. Yuansheng Gao received a diploma in military medicine from the Fourth Military Medical University (now Air Force Medical University) in Xian, China in 1977, and a master degree in physiology from Beijing Medical College (now Peking University Health Science Center) in Beijing, China in 1982. He received his PhD in physiology (supervisor: Paul M Vanhoutte) in 1990 from Mayo Graduate School (now Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences), MN, USA and obtained his postdoctoral training (supervisor: Paul M Vanhoutte) from 1990 to 1992 at Baylor College of Medicine, TX, USA. He was an adjunct assistant professor (1992-1999) and adjunct associate professor (1999- 2002) in Dr. Usha J Raj’s laboratory at the Department of Pediatrics, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA, a professor at the Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology at Peking University Health Science Center from 2002 to 2014, a visiting professor at the Department of Pediatrics, University ofIllinois College of Medicine at Chicago, Chicago, USA from 2011 to 2015, and a honorary professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy at the University of Hong Kong’s Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Hong Kong, China from 2014 to 2018. He has been a member of American Physiological Society since1995, a lifetime member of the Asian Society for Vascular Biology (council member from 2005 to 2018), and the review editor for the journal “Frontiers in Vascular Physiology” since 2011. He has been involved in research on the signaling transduction in vascular smooth muscles for more than 30 years, and has published over 100 original research and review articles in these fields.