Measurement of Cardiac Function presents detailed descriptions of how to set up and use several classical cardiac preparations from scratch. The preparations include whole heart, atrial, ventricular, and papillary muscles and in vivo small animal preparations. Methods for monitoring contraction and contractility are fully described. Flow charts and step-by-step instructions make it easy to understand, even for the first time investigator.
This book examines the most widely used tools in experimental cardiology and provides you with the recipe-setting up the technique, procurement of...

Molecular toxicology is an emerging discipline that utilizes molecular and cell biology to understand how drugs and chemicals result in their unwanted effects. PCR Protocols in Molecular Toxicology is a practical guide to the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to help examine, on a molecular and cellular level, how toxic responses are manifested. It offers a basic understanding of PCR and its optimization, as well as describing specific, high-impact areas of molecular toxicology and recent advances. The following techniques are described in detail:

Quantitative reverse...

There is an estimated 2.5 million epileptics in the US and perhaps some 40 million worldwide. As research has become increasingly molecular in scope, fewer scientists are trained in the US on basic, integrated epilepsy techniques. One frustration in neuroscience today is the application of state-of-the-art molecular biology techniques to inappropriate animal models of epilepsy - frequently resulting in inconclusive results. Epilepsy research will be increasingly undertaken by scientists well-trained in reductionist methodology, but who may be unfamiliar with integrated, whole-animal...

A detailed methodology for analysis of various lipid signalling pathways. Authoritative contributors explain the factors that regulate lipid second messenger production by agonist-activated enzymes and examine their products. Topics discussed include procedures used to measure lipid-derived mediators such as lysophospholipids, arachidonic acid, eicosanoids, anandamide and ceramides, and the enzymes responsible for generating these messengers, such as phospholipases, prostaglandin endoperoxide synthases and sphingomyelinase.