Adrenoceptors

Adrenoceptors have been at the forefront of physiological and pharmacological research for a century. They served as prototypes for rationale drug design as recognized by a Nobel Prize to Sir James Black and for the molecular understanding and structure of G protein-coupled receptors as recognized by a Nobel Prize to Brian Kobilka and Robert J. Lefkowitz. Drugs directly or indirectly targeting adrenoceptors have become guideline-recommended treatments for more than 30 human and various animal diseases. This volume assembles leading experts on various types of adrenoceptor research to provide concise insight into the current standing and future direction of uses of adrenoceptor-targeted drugs and research in this field.

Introduction: a short history of adrenoceptor research.- Structures of Adrenoceptors.- Genetic Variants of Adrenoceptors.- Adrenoceptors: Receptors, Ligands and Their Clinical Uses, Molecular Pharmacology and Assays.- Signalling of adrenoceptors: canonical pathways and new paradigms.- Presynaptic Adrenoceptors.- Roles of b-adrenoceptor subtypes and therapeutics in human cardiovascular disease:- heart failure, tachyarrhythmias and other cardiovascular disorders.- Adrenoceptors and Hypertension.- Adrenoceptors in the Lower Urinary Tract.- Asthma and COPD: A Focus on b-Agonists – Past, Present and Future.- Adrenoceptors in the Eye- Physiological and Pathophysiological Relevance.- Adrenoceptors: A Focus on Psychiatric Disorders and Their Treatments.- Locus Coeruleus and Noradrenergic Pharmacology in Neurodegenerative Disease.- Clinical use of adrenergic receptor ligands in acute care settings.- Adrenoceptor expression and function in the endocrine pancreas.- b-adrenoceptors in cancer: old players and new perspectives.