Connexin channels typically form structures that connect one cell to another. In addition, it has recently been shown that connexin channels also form membrane pores in cell membranes to allow biological and non-biological molecules to pass into/out of individual cells.



Most cells in the body are connected to their immediate neighbors by the former type of connexin channel. These intercellular connexin channels, called gap junction channels, allow signaling molecules to pass from cell to cell, and thus gap junctions mediate a unique, fundamental and important mode of cellular communication. Defects in connexin channels cause a variety of human diseases, including deafness, peripheral nervous system disorders, cardiac/vascular abnormalities, etc.



This book is written by a highly selected group of international and renowned authors, each of whom is a specialist in some aspect of connexin channel biology, be it their structure, their function, or their role in normal physiology and disease. It gathers in one place the fundamental as well as applied knowledge about the subject.



Importantly, this book was written with the explicit goal of being both `a textbook' and `a reference book'. It was written and thoroughly edited so as to be of ongoing use to all people - for example, those who work in the connexin field, and who work in the many areas of biological, biophysical and biomedical science. As such, there is a widespread audience for this information in the academic biological and medical research and teaching communities.



The connexin field is uncommonly diverse - to the extent that even people within the field employ experimental methods and conceptual frameworks that are unfamiliar to others in the field. In addition, a large number of people outside the field who are quite interested in specific aspects of connexin channel biology and function find it difficult to access the information they desire. This book is being structured to address the needs of both groups, and so be appealing to a broad audience.



In keeping with this, the chapter authors do not just present a summary of their own work, they instead synthesize a field, with minimal use of discipline-specific jargon. Each chapter: (a) identifies key scientific questions, (b) explains why they are important within and outside of the immediate context, (c) describes what is known, what is not known, where and why there is controversy.



The first set of chapters cover fundamentals of connexin biology and techniques. People may be interested to know: (a) connexin channel structure-function, (b) connexin channel pharmacology, (c) how to assess junctional coupling, (d) many more - see chapter titles to get some idea of the breadth of coverage.



The second set of chapters covers the roles of connexin channels in specific tissues or biological processes. Each of these chapters should be of particular interest to people who work in each system, such as cardiovascular, nervous system, etc. Almost all aspects of human physiology and the roles that connexins play in tissue processes have been covered; it is an extensive and exhaustive guide.



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