Humana Integrative Physiology in the Proteomics and Post-Genomics Age

There is a perception in the scientific community that the discipline of Physiology is in crisis, or at least, in a phase of profound transition and change. At the root of the problem is confusion between objectives (the biological questions to be solved) and the methods and technologies to be applied. Traditionally, ever since Claude Bernard’s concept of the “milieu interieur,” Physiology was an integrative science with the prime concern of studying regulatory mechanisms leading to adaptation and homeostasis in the presence of challenges from a dynamic internal and external environment. This study of control mechanisms can be applied on any level of fu- tion whether subcellular, cellular, and organ, but reaches its highest level of complexity with the functioning of the body as a whole and its interaction with the external environment. This involves the determination of the interaction of genetic with environmental factors and the resulting integrated body adaptation. It might seem obvious that in the pursuit of these questions any appropriate combination of techniques on any organizational level could be used. Yet the advent of molecular techniques has resulted in a preoccupation with the problems and challenges inherent in these techniques, sometimes at the expense of the original perspectives and concepts. The many new mechanisms that have been discovered at the molecular level, as well as their economical exploitation, have contributed to a climate of reductionism. Review From the reviews: "This book, authored by 19 expert contributors, introduces its reader to that fresh enlightening viewpoint. It should help design curricula and identify learning objectives of both medical students and professional physiologists. … As a conclusion, ‘this book represents the leading edge of an exciting development in biological science: the re-emergence of integrative physiology as an organizing principle.’ I agree." (William H. Wehrmacher, Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol. 17 (5), 2006) From the Back Cover The advent of molecular techniques has shifted the focus of physiology from its traditional role as an integrative science concerned with the study of regulatory mechanisms leading to adaptation and homeostasis, to a field preoccupied with the problems and challenges inherent in those techniques. In Integrative Physiology in the Proteomics and Post-Genomics Age, internationally recognized researchers highlight the major questions and accomplishments of modern physiological research and demonstrate that modern molecular methods can well be incorporated and strengthen the original integrative perspectives of physiology set out by Claude Bernard's concept of the "milieu interieur." Among the critical issues discussed are the place of functional genomics in regulatory physiology, the role of model systems in integrative physiology, the function of neural circuits in behavior and consciousness, and the influence of external challenges to the whole body and the environment on genes. The question of integrative physiology in curriculum design for the health sciences is also discussed. Perceptive and timely, Integrative Physiology in the Proteomics and Post-Genomics Age bridges the gap between molecular biology and whole body function, establishing the future of physiology as an integrative science based on new molecular insights.