This well-established and acclaimed textbook introducing the rapidly growing field of nerve and muscle function has been completely revised and updated. Written with undergraduate students in mind, it begins with the fundamental principles demonstrated by the pioneering electrophysiological experiments on cell excitability. This leads to more challenging material recounting recent discoveries from applying modern biochemical, genetic, physiological and biophysical, experimental and mathematical analysis. The resulting interdisciplinary approach conveys a unified contemporary understanding of nerve and skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle function at the molecular, cellular and systems levels. Emphasis on important strategic experiments throughout clarifies the basis for our current scientific views, highlights the excitement and challenge of biomedical discovery, and suggests directions for future advances. These fundamental ideas are then translated into discussions of related disease conditions and their clinical management. Now including colour illustrations, it is an invaluable text for students of physiology, neuroscience, cell biology and biophysics.

‘Huang has taken on the mammoth task of bringing the book up-to-date and has succeeded in maintaining the enthusiastic and eminently readable approach of Keynes and Aidley, who created one of the greatest physiology books covering the crucial areas of nerve and muscle. The fascinating historical perspectives on the discovery of membrane potentials, the transmission of nerve impulses and their molecular basis are essential reading for students of medicine and physiology with a curiosity about scientific methods, and progress.'

Michael A. Ferenczi - Imperial College London

‘...a beautifully written gem. It is clearly illustrated, and it makes one of the most difficult areas of biology completely accessible. It should find its way onto the bookshelves of electrophysiologists everywhere and any students who aspire to master one of the most exciting areas of modern biology.'

Denis Noble - University of Oxford

'This classic textbook on the fundamental biophysics and physiology of nerve and muscle remains an unparalleled source of knowledge that has served the scientific field for decades. Prof. Huang elegantly manages to update this edition with recent findings within this broad field continuing the excellence that characterizes this work.'

Thomas Holm Pedersen - University of Aarhus, Denmark

'Professor Christopher Huang has updated and significantly broadened the scope and the translational endpoints of the classical textbook of Integrative and Cell Physiology Keynes & Aidley’s Nerve and Muscle. The result is a comprehensive, well planned, logically presented and extensively referenced monograph. Based on the text and supporting figures, it builds on the strengths of the parent textbook while also providing new in-depth coverage of recent advances in neurophysiology as well as skeletal and cardiac muscle electrophysiology and contractility. The internationally recognized research accomplishments of Professor Huang on key cell physiology mechanisms of the heart and skeletal muscle form the basis of very informative material concerning cardiac rhythm disturbances and some aspects of exercise physiology and aging. This textbook will serve as a valuable resource for undergraduates, graduate students, as well as both basic science and clinical faculty members in Life Sciences.'

Wayne Giles - University of Calgary, Canada